In what has been described by some as over-zealous
enforcement of copyright, BMG (the large German publisher) forced YouTube to
take down a Mitt Romney campaign video because it included footage of President
Obama singing Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”
The Romney video followed the Obama campaign’s
release of a political ad
featuring Mitt Romney’s off-key rendition of “America the Beautiful" as
underscored to images of off-shore employment out-sourcing. Romney’s campaign used
the Al Green song to attack Obama for his relationship with lobbyists and
campaign fundraisers. YouTube
pulled down the Romney ad after BMG, the music publisher that owns the
copyright in the “Let’s Stay Together” composition, filed a copyright takedown
notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Not wanting to look
like it was playing politics and only targeting the Romney ads, BMG also sent notices to YouTube
to take down the original news footage clips of Obama singing the song.[1]
The Obama campaign met no similar copyright opposition to its attack ad because
the copyright to “America the Beautiful,” first released in 1910, has expired
and that musical composition is now in the public domain.
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