{"id":27073,"date":"2015-09-16T10:26:37","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T04:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/one\/sinapse\/?p=27073"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:23:33","slug":"copyright-fair-use-dmca-ruling-lets-go-crazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/copyright-fair-use-dmca-ruling-lets-go-crazy\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Go Crazy: The Lenz v Universal Music DMCA Ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the District Court in Lenz v. Universal Music<\/em>, holding that a fair use assessment is a necessary prerequisite before a DMCA take-down notice may be issued. The ruling imposes a direct obligation on copyright holders to consider whether a use of their work is permitted by law before invoking the statutory take-down mechanism.<\/p>\n

Background<\/h2>\n

In 2007, Stephanie Lenz uploaded a video to YouTube showing her child dancing to Prince’s song “Let’s Go Crazy”, which played in the background. Universal Music, as owner of the sound recording, sent a DMCA take-down notice to YouTube, and the video was removed. Lenz submitted a counter-notification asserting that the use was fair use, and YouTube subsequently restored the video.<\/p>\n

The Legal Dispute<\/h2>\n

Lenz filed suit against Universal Music, alleging that Universal had committed misrepresentation by sending a DMCA notice without first considering whether the use of the song in the video was permitted under the law \u2014 a step she contended was required before any notice could be issued. In support of her bad faith claim, Lenz relied on a statement by Universal Music indicating a broad intent to remove all uses of Prince’s music from YouTube, arguing that no individualised assessment of fair use had been conducted for each video.<\/p>\n

Findings<\/h2>\n

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s conclusion that a fair use assessment is mandatory before a DMCA take-down notice can be issued. The court further held that whether such an assessment had in fact been conducted was a question of fact for determination by a jury.<\/p>\n

Significance<\/h2>\n

The ruling places the burden on copyright holders to carry out an independent fair use assessment prior to issuing a DMCA notice; a notice may only be sent if the use is determined not to constitute fair use. The decision has two significant implications. It provides a degree of protection for users whose activities are genuinely within the ambit of fair use, addressing the increasing incidence of over-broad take-down actions. At the same time, the burden it imposes on rights holders may complicate efforts to control online piracy at scale, where automated or blanket enforcement programmes are commonly relied upon.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer<\/h2>\n

This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The post discusses the legal requirement for copyright holders to assess fair use before issuing a DMCA takedown notice, with reference to the Lenz v. Universal Music case. It objectively analyses the balance between protecting content creators and enforcing copyright online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":31,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[93,539,540,5619,585,2107,7715],"class_list":["post-27073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyrights","category-intellectual-property","tag-copyright-law","tag-dmca","tag-fair-use","tag-legal-analysis","tag-online-piracy","tag-take-down-notice","tag-youtube-copyright"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27073"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149907,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27073\/revisions\/149907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}