The Skinny on Fair Use

It is ON: Ralph Lauren has filed a Digital Millenium Copyright Act claim against two websites – Boing Boing and Photoshop Disasters, for posting (and mocking) an ad that had been “retouched” to such an egregious degree that the model’s head appeared larger than her waist. Ralph Lauren claimed that posting the ad amounted to copyright infringement, falling outside the scope of Fair Use.

In response, Boing Boing not only refused to remove the ad, but issued a rather epic message summarizing their legal perspective:

"Copyright law doesn't give you the right to threaten your critics for pointing out the problems with your offerings. You should know better. And every time you threaten to sue us over stuff like this, we will:

a) Reproduce the original criticism, making damned sure that all our readers get a good, long look at it, and;

b) Publish your spurious legal threat along with copious mockery, so that it becomes highly ranked in search engines where other people you threaten can find it and take heart; and

c) Offer nourishing soup and sandwiches to your models."

I ain’t studied IP yet, but seems pretty sound to me.