Yet Another Example Of What Happens When Lawyers And Marketers Disagree

from the there-they-go-again dept

Just last week we wrote about reasons why lawyers shouldn’t be making business decisions, which generated a bit of controversy. However, the examples keep on coming. With the ongoing practice of various entertainment companies sending takedown notices to YouTube over parodies and mashups, apparently some marketers are realizing that having lawyers send out takedown notices may not actually be in the best interest of the company’s marketing strategy. 20th Century Fox’s lawyers sent a takedown notice for a music video praising the popular Die Hard movie series, since the video was mostly made up of clips from the first three movies. However, now that the fourth movie in the series is coming out, suddenly marketing execs at Fox are paying the band to put the video back online. Of course, when you see stories like this, it makes you wonder how the entertainment industry can get away with claiming that other such videos cause “irreparable harm.”


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Yet Another Example Of What Happens When Lawyers And Marketers Disagree”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
9 Comments
SFC says:

Get your facts straight

Before writing sucessive articles on the subject of lawyers making business decisions, perhaps the author should consider if the there is any indication that the decisions was taken (or even advised) by a lawyer. The fact that a letter is signed by a lawyer does not even mean that said lawyer thought the letter was a good business decision.

Anon2 says:

Yes, you get it exactly right — lawyers should not be making business decisions for their clients. But if a client makes a foolish business decision, but one that has merit from a technical legal standpoint, it’s not the lawyer’s job to refuse to do it. The lawyer may well question the client’s wisdom, and may well even tell the client that, but at the end of the day the lawyer works for the client. So in this case, blame the marketers, the distributors, the content owners, but not the lawyers who sent the takedown notices — they were just doing their jobs.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...