By Lee Pfeiffer
One of the hallmarks of
The Ellen DeGeneres Show is the tradition of every guest entering to rock music and engaging in a brief dance with the host. Audiences find it amusing to judge the often awkward moves of each guest. However, the record companies that own the copyrights to the songs played during this segment are considerably less amused. They are collectively suing the show's producers for over 1,000 instances of copyright violations. The suit says the producers should be savvy enough to know that they could not use the songs without permission. The suit cites work by Michael Jackson, Will Smith, The Beach Boys and many others. The producers might argue that the song use represents a case of "Fair Use", which allows copyrighted works to be used in certain instances without gaining permission from the rights holders. However, such instances are generally relegated to use of materials for news and informational purposes, which is how TV networks can routinely use clips from programs on other stations. How the case plays out can have some far-reaching implications for the industry. For more
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