A campaign video for Republican John Dennis, challenging House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi in California’s 8th District, has been removed
from YouTube.com.
The ad, which
depicted Pelosi as the Wicked Witch of the West, went
“viral” after being linked by the Drudge Report, and had gotten
more than 600,000 page views. The video was removed after
complaints of copyright infringement from EMI Publishing, which
holds rights to the musical “The Wizard of Oz.”
One legal source familiar with the case said the
copyright-infringement claim was “sub-frivolous,” as the video was
protected under the “fair use” doctrine.
The online ad was directed by Ladd Ehlinger Jr. (“Lights!
Camera! Politics!” The American Spectator, Aug.
16) whose quirky campaign videos have made Internet stars
of candidates like Alabama’s
Dale Peterson. Ehlinger said his research indicates EMI’s
corporate officers are major contributors to Democratic Party
campaigns, and he suspects politics motivated the
copyright-infringement claim.
“That ad was nothing more than a Saturday Night Live skit, a
form of political satire,” Ehlinger said. “If EMI had a
problem, they could’ve called first.”
