GoldieBlox, fair use, and the cult of disruption

blogs.reuters.com

8 points·yread··3 comments

IANAL, but the justification for fair use seems tortured here. EFF made the case for fair use in this article:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/beastie-boys-goldieblo...

... and I think the commercial element is stronger than EFF argues for, and the fact that the video uses the ENTIRE SONG pushes factor three (amount and substantiality) in favor of the Beastie Boyz.

My first thought on seeing the commercial was "Awesome!"

My second thought was, "Did they get Beastie Boyz' permission to do this?"

I have to say, I agree with the Beastie Boyz statement in its entirety:

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/record-labels/580...

I was really afraid when I saw this blow up. My first thought was people would just "forgive" GoldieBlox: after all, don't we all dream of a free world devoid and licensing and teaching girls they are just as powerful as boys?

But for once, I'm seeing a different trend. People really do care for Yauch's last will as an artist. And people don't think girl empowerment, though noble, should be used to trample respect and other values we hold dear as human beings.

So for once, more people are speaking with moderated words. We see both sides of the arguments, there's less "line-in-the-sand" declarations,... Maybe we could try again next time we get in a gender-related debate :)

I was of a split opinion. I think the girl empowerment thing was great, but I also respect his wish not to have his work used commercially. At the end of the day, it's fair use, but unethical, but all they need to do be be ethical and respect his last wishes is remove the obvious references to their product at the end when the TV is turned on and the product name is aired. They should just edit out that short part.

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