Jimmy Kimmel has been in the news a lot recently, which means the ongoing lawsuit against him by perennial late-night punching bag/convicted fraudster/former congressman George Santos flew under the radar. But what happened in that case is an essential illustration of the limits of both copyright law and the “fine print” terms of service on websites and apps.  What happened was this: Kimmel and his staff saw that Santos was on Cameo, which allows people to purchase short videos from various public figures with requested language. Usually it’s something like “happy birthday” or “happy retirement.” In the case of Kimmel and his writers, they set out to see if there was anything they couldn’t get Santos to say on Cameo. For this to work, they obviously didn’t disclose that it was Jimmy Kimmel Live! asking for the videos.   Santos did not like the segment, which aired clips of these videos, called “Will Santos Say It?”.  He sued Kimmel, ABC, and ABC’s parent company, Disney. He alleged both copyright infringement and breach of contract—the contract in this case being Cameo’s terms of service. He lost on all counts, twice: his case was dismissed at the district court level, and then that dismissal was upheld by an appeals court.  On the copyright claim, Kimmel and Disney argued and won on the grounds of fair use. The court cited precedent that fair use excuses what might be strictly seen as infringement if such a finding would “stifle the very creativity” that copyright is meant to promote. In this case, the use of the videos was part of the ongoing commentary by Jimmy Kimmel Live! around whether there was anything Santos wouldn’t say for money. Santos tried to argue that since this was their purpose from the outset, the use wasn’t transformative. Which... isn’t how it works. Santos’ purpose was, presumably, to fulfill a request sent through the app. The show’s purpose was to collect enough examples of a behavior to show a pattern and comment on it.   Santos tried to say that their not disclosing what the reason was invalidated the fair use argument because it was “deceptive.” But the court found that the record didn’t show that the deception was designed to replace the market for Santos’s Cameos. It bears repeating: commenting on the quality of a product or the person making it is not legally actionable interference with a business. If someone tells you that a movie, book, or, yes, Cameo isn’t worth anything because of its ubiquity or quality and shows you examples, that’s not a deceptive business practice. In fact, undercover quality checks and reviews are fairly standard practices! Is this a funnier and more entertaining example than a restaurant review? Yes. That doesn’t make it unprotected by fair use.   It’s nice to have this case as a reminder that, despite everything, the major studios often argue, fair use protects everyone, including them. Don’t hold your breath on them remembering this the next time someone tries to make a YouTube review of a Hollywood movie using clips.   Another claim from this case that is less obvious but just as important involves the Cameo terms of service. We often see contracts being used to restrict people’s fair use rights. Cameo offers different kinds of videos for purchase. The most well-known comes with a personal use license, the “happy birthdays,” and so on. They also offer a “commercial” use license, presumably if you want to use the videos to generate revenue, like you do with an ad or paid endorsement. However, in this case, the court found that the terms of service are a contract between a customer and Cameo, not between the customer and the video maker. Cameo’s terms of service explicitly lay out when their terms apply to the person selling a video, and they don’t create a situation where Santos can use those terms to sue Jimmy Kimmel Live! According to the court, the terms don’t even imply a shared understanding and contract between the two parties.   It's so rare to find a situation where the wall of text that most terms of service consist of actually helps protect free expression; it’s a pleasant surprise to see it here.   In general, we at EFF hate it when these kinds of contracts—you know the ones, where you hit accept after scrolling for ages just so you can use the app—are used to constrain users’ rights. Fair use is supposed to protect us all from overly strict interpretations of copyright law, but abusive terms of service can erode those rights. We’ll keep fighting for those rights and the people who use them, even if the one exercising fair use is Disney.  

From $100 billion OpenAI commitments to $100,000 visa fees, this week showed just how much the tech landscape is shifting. On the latest episode of Equity, Anthony Ha and Max Zeff unpack the AI infrastructure gold rush and tech’s talent shuffle. Watch the full episode for more about:   Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by […]

The wider shakeup comes a few weeks since its CEO and CTO left.

We've compiled a list of friendship apps, from friend discovery platforms like BFF to event-focused ones like Timeleft.

Luke Combs appreciates the country music fans across the pond. In recent years, we’ve seen the country music genre grow to new heights. Part of that is the outreach that has happened by country artists to areas outside of the United States, like the UK. In the United Kingdom, country music is on the rise, with over 3 billion streams coming from there in total just last year. And artists are really starting to recognize that, and setting out on tours in the friendly, foreign land. Post Malone and Jelly Roll just recently finished a run over in the United Kingdom, and other artists like Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs himself (among others) have also played in front of grateful, British crowds. The “Hurricane” singer takes pride in taking his music over to the UK, and Combs does believe that he helped play a role in inspiring other big country acts to tour across the pond, as he explained to BBC: “I just think country music is a place that everybody can go and enjoy. When I started out, there weren’t a lot of acts coming over to the UK and doing club or arena tours and putting in the work. So that was what we always tried to do. It was like, if we invest our time and our energy into coming over here, the fans over here will appreciate that.” And Combs has been able to see in real time – as he continues to go back to the UK – that fans of the genre are certainly responding well to the presence of country music. The artist hailing from North Carolina says that he can tell fans in the United Kingdom are listening to full albums rather than just singles. Combs isn’t holding that against his fans from the United States, but there’s a different connection that he feels with how fans “listen” when the country star plays in front of those that reside in the UK: “Country music has become available to more people compared to when it was just terrestrial radio. In the States, we have singles that we promote to radio, which become the songs that get people drawn in. But when you come the UK, everyone has consumed the whole album already. It’s really awesome to come here and have the fans ask for songs that maybe wouldn’t even make the set list in the States. I would say the UK fans are a very listening crowd, which I think is neat. In the States, our shows are very loud, a bit of a melee. The energy over here is great but everyone’s listening to the music. They’re focused on what you’re saying and what the lyrics are.” Interesting… is Luke calling out the American attention span? Maybe so. Though it does seem more so that he just cherishes how he’s been able to connect to British fans. Here’s a couple of songs that Combs performed live in London as a part of the Country 2 Country (C2C) country music festival that’s been taking place in Europe every year since 2013. Check it out and see if you can tell if British fans are better listeners than us Americans: “She Got The Best Of Me” & “Hurricane” And just in case you didn’t know, they love Luke Combs so much over there that there’s a “Luke Combs UK” tribute band that stays active in the United Kingdom when the actual country star is busy in the states: Luke Combs UK The post Luke Combs Praises British Country Music Fans & Suggests They Listen To The Music More Than Americans: “Everyone Has Consumed The Whole Album” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Amen. It’s been two weeks since the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk at a Turning Points USA event at Utah Valley University back on September 10. And since then, there have been plenty of tributes to the conservative media personality from those in country music, including artists like Jason Aldean, Jamey Johnson, Justin Moore, and Shenandoah. In the wake of the tragedy, Cole Swindell also teased a new song that he had written after hearing a speech from Kirk’s widow where she mentioned that Charlie was finally doing what he always wanted to do: Making heaven crowded. “I’ve blamed my sinning on ‘I ain’t no saint’ I’ve bit my tongue, said that it ain’t my place I’ve kept Jesus in the backseat, but I can’t any longer After what we all saw last week, I can’t help but wonder What if churches had a longer line outside Than all them bars on Friday night What if people prayed for people who ain’t on their side What if good ran off the bad Them streets of gold up there’d be packed This ol’ world would look a lot better than we found it If we make heaven crowded” @coleswindellofficial “Make Heaven Crowded” #charliekirk #countrymusic #makeheavencrowded ♬ original sound – coleswindell Well naturally, after teasing the new song, there were plenty of people who were begging Cole to release it. And even Randy Travis said that the world needs to hear the song: “Thank you, Cole! This song will reach millions of hearts… get it out there…it’s great!” @coleswindellofficial Overwhelmed by the response to this song doing everything we can to get it to y’all soon. #makeheavencrowded ♬ original sound – coleswindell Well that’s what he did. Just over a week after writing the song, and five days after first teasing it, Cole dropped the full version of “Make Heaven Crowded” today. Reflecting on the song, he says that the response has been unlike any he’s ever received, calling it what may be the most important song of his career: “Being a new dad with a fresh perspective on the world, I was inspired by Erika’s speech. A phrase I had heard before, but I hadn’t heard it in a moment like that. It literally stopped me in my tracks and ultimately moved me to write ‘Make Heaven Crowded.’ The heartbreak I felt, and still feel, for her and their kids was so heavy thinking about my wife and baby girl. I knew I had to get those feelings out of my heart and head and down on paper. But when I released a social clip of performing a few of the lyrics, the response was unlike any reaction I’ve ever had to a song. It’s truly amazing what music is able to do, especially when real life inspires it. Writing songs has always been something that has helped me express thoughts and feelings, and I don’t know if folks know how much it helps me when it connects and I know I am not alone in those same fears and feelings. This may be the most important song of my career, and I’m ok with that.” I don’t know what it is about Cole Swindell, but he somehow always manages to release the most emotional, moving songs in country music. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves for songs like “Dad’s Old Number,” “You Should Be Here,” and even his latest single, “Dale Jr.,” which talks of the bond that he shares with Dale Earnhardt Jr. over the loss of their fathers. But yet again, Cole Swindell has managed to release another tearjerker. The post Cole Swindell Releases Emotional New Song “Make Heaven Crowded,” Written After The Assassination Of Charlie Kirk first appeared on Whiskey Riff.