This land is lawsuit-crazed

[illusionofjoy]

Those of us with a high-speed connection have surely viewed JibJab's spoof on the presidential candidates at this point. As with any popular parody, first comes the laughter, then come the lawsuits. The Richmond Organization, who owns the rights to the Woody Guthrie tune used in the spoof has decided to sue JibJab. Their claim is that the parody "corrupts the song," making it so that people associate it with humour rather than Guthrie's "unifying message."

I find it particularly interesting that a publishing company is so interested in Guthrie's unifying message - a message which actually promoted unity via a protest of private property. I suppose that fact merely slipped the minds of the humourless bigwigs at The Richmond Organization.