Dose of oxygen for dying Fair Use

The range of Fair Use provision in the copyright laws has been inexorably shrinking in recent decade, due to pressure from movie and recording lobbyists and compliant Congressmen. But the battle to control every use of the music we've bought got a rare reprieve in a recent court decision:

A federal judge in San Jose handed a victory to fair-use advocates today, refusing to dismiss a lawsuit that a Pennsylvania woman filed after Universal Music Publishing forced YouTube to remove a video of her children cavorting to an old Prince hit. But it may prove Pyrrhic, as the judge expressed doubt that the woman would ultimately be able to prove her case.

We're talking about a 29-second video of a baby dancing to "Let's Go Crazy" — a very apt title in this crazy situation. Who hasn't made a cute video of their kids dancing to some pop song? Universal thinks that's a copyright violation. Maybe we should rename "fair use" "common sense", something which seems increasingly lacking in copyright lawsuits.

In related news, webcasting radio stations are concerned the record companies are trying to drive them out of business by convincing the FCC to charge high royalties. Conventional radio stations don't pay royalties, on the theory that it helps promote album sales, but of course the RIAA is trying to change that, too.