Sen. McCain Calls Fair Use on Fox
The Associated Press reports that presidential candidate John McCain has rejected Fox’s call to “cease and desist” from using Fox debate footage in a campaign ad.
Fox is apparently claiming infringement by the use of 18 seconds from a 90 minute debate, in which Sen. McCain is the speaker. Political argument, even in the heated sound-bite form of campaign ads, is at the core of First-Amendment protected speech. This kind of commentary use, of newsworthy material available only from Fox, suggests that not only McCain, but the general public should have greater access to debate footage.
Let’s hope this run-in with overreaching intellectual property demands inspires McCain to pursue IP balance beyond this one campaign ad.
