When Evan Krauss, my recent client at CUTS, Inc. stood on the stage at the DEMO conference recently, to introduce a way to personalize and share copyrighted digital content, he quipped, "I know what you're thinking. This guy's going to get himself sued from here to Hollywood." I'm told quite a few heads nodded in agreement. Then he declared, "We are prepared to fight the fight."
Scores of millions of people believe that existing and antiquating copyright laws are now unjust. We do not have the rights to fair use of our own property. But when little CUTS stands up to Hollywood, a collective institution that uses big budgets to conduct an ongoing war of ligation against private citizens who like to add sound tracks, comments or other content to their movies. To learn the horrendous details, read JD Lasica's Darknet. People also like to use quick clips from their movies, to enhance all sorts of stuff. When I still owned a PR agency, I once used the housebuilding scene from Witness, to my staff of 10, to illustrate The meaning of teamwork. I had no idea, that I was technically breaching the law and some people in Los Angeles would be likely to sue me or send me a cease and desist letter for this act of alleged piracy.
The problem with CUTS v. Hollywood Moguls is that the former is an early stage startup and the latter is a real life King Kong, and a wealthy Kong at that Instead of stomping you with its gorilla foot it drowns you in the distraction of litigation and its threat.
This is all relevant to me when I look at Google's pending acquisition of YouTube. people I respect like Mark Cuban, and knowledgeable friends like Richard Brandt have wagged their virtual fingers, warning "lawsuits...lawsuits...lawsuits.
Of course there will be lawsuits. Lots of them. expensive, time-consuming, name-calling lawsuits. Does anyone really think that the Google folk have waded into these waters unaware of the sharks that swim there?
But unlike my friends at CUTS, Google has the wherewithal to fight this fight at every step all the way up to the Supreme Court where the issue of copyright laws designed in an era of paper should be applied to the Information Age.
I think Google, not only knows it but they want it. This case has to happen. It will be a watershed case of enormous repercussions, and Google is strong enough and rich enough and smart enough to fight a battle that will shape what is said and shared on the Internet for decades to come.
