A federal judge has ruled that a mother from Pennsylvania can file a lawsuit over Universal Music Corp. after the company demanded that the video-sharing platform, YouTube, take down a video of her dancing baby to the tune of "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince.
Universal Music ordered that the home-video by the mother, Stephanie Lenz, should be removed from the site because the use of the music allegedly breaches the copyright laws of the Prince hit, according to NBC News.
The 29-second video was put up in February 2007 but was removed from the site only after a few months. It was uploaded back after a few weeks and is still on the site with over a million views. According to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, "fair use" should be verified first before the copyright holders can demand the removal of videos and other copyrighted materials. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a civil liberties group, helped Lenz in filing her lawsuit and said that it was the first circuit court issue such particular rule, according to the New York Times.
Dance, Baby, Dance: @EFF defends Stephanie Lenz from #Prince #Copyright #DMCA takedown https://t.co/qgYmdFN1b2 pic.twitter.com/jMGuGdbHLU
— Matthew Rimmer (@DrRimmer) July 7, 2015
"The decision made by the appeals court today has ramifications far beyond Ms. Lenz's rights to share her video with family and friends. We will all watch a lot of online video and analysis of presidential candidates in the months to come, and this ruling will help make sure that information remains uncensored," Corynne McSherry, Legal Director of the EFF said, the Inquisitr reported.
"Today's ruling sends a strong message that copyright law does not authorize thoughtless censorship of lawful speech," McSherry said. "We're pleased that the court recognized that ignoring fair use rights makes content holders liable for damages."
The video was filmed while Lenz's baby was in their kitchen with the music playing in the background. The mother asked the baby, "What do you think of the music?" and that's when the little boy started dancing.
Watch the video below.
