Thursday, April 24, 2008

Expelled: No intellectual property theft allowed

It seems like right wingnuts are getting into the habit of "borrowing" other peoples' intellectual property:
"NEW YORK – Yoko Ono is suing the producers of a movie that challenges the concept of Darwinian evolution, saying they used the song "Imagine" without her permission and led the blogosphere to accuse her of "selling out."

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, Ono accuses the producers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" of suggesting to viewers that those who guard John Lennon's legacy somehow authorized or sponsored the film.

The producers of the film, which challenges Darwinian theories that prevail in academic circles and suggests that life could have emerged through intelligent design, said they used only "a very small portion of the song.""

Only a very small portion? So I guess it'd be okay for me to take over a very small portion of Ben Stein's house? As long as it's just, you know, a very small portion... like the bathroom?
"Based on the fair use doctrine, news commentators and film documentarians regularly use material in the same way we do," Premise Media said in a statement. "Unbiased viewers of the film will see that the `Imagine' clip was used as part of a social commentary in the exercise of free speech and freedom of inquiry."
And there's that "Free Speech" thing again. Look, wingnuts: "free speech" doesn't include libel, it doesn't include inciting hate, and it doesn't include theft. Please stop, you are devaluing the term "free speech" every time you abuse it this way.

(h/t reality bites in the comments)