CNN Ignores Copyright Law, Claims News Reporting of Its Program Content An Infringement

Brian Zick

John at AMERICAblog has posted a video clip of Bill Maher's recent appearance on the Larry King show. CNN enjoys copyright protection of its programming. But copyright law provides for certain exceptions, described as Fair Use. The exceptions. for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. John had posted the video on his YouTube account, and linked a stream to the AMERICAblog site. CNN claimed to YouTube that such usage was infringing, and YouTube sent Americablog a threatening cease and desist letter.

The text is from the poem “QUADRENNIAL” by Golden, reprinted with permission. It was first published in the Poetry Project. Inside front cover photo by Golden.
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