JibJab jibber-jabber

I can't believe I missed this story when it first came out over a week ago! But, on the principle that late is better than never, here goes.

Most people who read this blog have probably seen JibJab's cartoon in which an animated George W. Bush and John Kerry trade musical insults to the tune of "This Land Is Your Land." It's amusing if a bit corny. Unfortunately, the copyright to the song, 64 years after it was written by sometime leftist, labor agitator, and dustbowl troubadour Woody Guthrie, is held by a conglomerate called The Richmond Group, which has reportedly threatened to file suit against JibJab's use of the song. (News stories here, here, here. See also the EFF's statement on JibJab's behalf here.) Says a Richmond Group corporate flunkie: "This puts a completely different spin on the song.... The damage to the song is huge."

Damage? Uh, right. Surely Woody Guthrie, that devoutly apolitical figure, who never said anything satirical or critical about anyone, would never have dreamed of his songs having anything do with ... gasp ... POLITICS!

Did I hear somebody ask, what was Woody Guthrie's opinion on copyright protection? Well, here's the phrase he used to send out with copies of his lyrics in the late 1930's in lieu of a standard copyright statement:

This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do.

And as for the tune, well, that comes from a gospel song that dates back at least ten years before Guthrie lifted it from a Carter Family album! (See EFF comment here, with sound clip for proof.) This is a common practice in folk music, and has been so for centuries, until corporate executives got it into their head that they could lock tunes up in their private vaults and exercise monopoly control over them.

Unfortunately, neither historical precedent, common sense, nor the explicit wishes of the artists themselves, seem to matter much to the greed-crazed, power-tripping perpetual-intellectual-property barons of the twenty-first century. But just this once, there may be hope that the Richmond Group's legal threats will go down in ignominious flames of scorn.