After browsing the internet for a bit I came across yet another copyright infringement case, this time dealing with the TV show South Park. Apparently, “South Park found themselves in the middle of a copyright infringement suit because of a South Park episode entitled “Canada on Strike,” which allegedly infringed on Plaintiff Brownmark Films, LLC’s (“Plaintiff” or “Brownmark”) copyright in WWITB”. After reading about this case, I began to think about just how many well-known TV shows or other media forms have had to deal with copyright infringement cases just as this. It seems as if a lot of these cases take place under the radar and simply unnoticed by society. I’m not sure if this is because these sort of cases happen so frequently or if it is because people simply do not care about this sort of news. I wonder just how many of the TV shows that I watch on a weekly basis have also dealt with infringement cases such as this.
http://www.theiplawblog.com/archives/-copyright-law-south-park-prevails-in-copyright-infringement-case-thanks-to-the-fair-use-doctrine.html
This is an interesting story, and one that I never would of thought of under normal circumstances. I would believe that this sort of news is not very popular with the masses. As a result, it flies under the radar, which explains why don’t hear about them much.
Shows like South Park and The Daily Show probably get into trouble with fair use quite a bit. I wonder, though, if complaints are lodged more often when the plaintiff feels they are being portrayed in a negative light.