Dancing baby’s revenge: Court says copyright owners must consider ‘fair use’ before demanding YouTube takedowns

Copyright holders must consider “fair use” before demanding the removal of videos that people post online, including on YouTube, a US appeals court has ruled.

In a closely followed case over a home video of a baby dancing to the Prince hit “Let’s Go Crazy”, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco made it tougher for content providers such as Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group to force Internet service providers to remove material.

“Copyright holders cannot shirk their duty to consider - in good faith and prior to sending a takedown notification - whether allegedly infringing material constitutes fair use,” Circuit Judge Richard Tallman wrote in Monday’s ruling, which authorises a lawsuit brought by the woman who uploaded the dancing baby video.

The decision could make it harder for copyright holders to remove alleged infringing content from the Internet by invoking the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a 1998 law intended to curb movie and music piracy online. Critics say abusive takedown notices can suppress free speech.

WATCH: Video showing a baby dancing to Prince’s song, “Let’s Go Crazy.”

Stephanie Lenz of Gallitzin, Pennsylvania had in February 2007 uploaded to YouTube a blurry 29-second clip of her 13-month-old son Holden happily bobbing up and down to “Let’s Go Crazy”, a 1984 song by Prince and The Revolution that played in the background.