1. Mini Law Lesson
What Goldieblox v. Beastie Boys
Taught Us
Brian Heidelberger
bheidelb@winston.com
Twitter @briheidelberger
Info @ www.winston.com/bheidelberger

2. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER
• I am not your attorney.
• This is not legal advice.
• …. This is only a parody of legal
advice
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3. Goldieblox Ad
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4. The Law
• Use of another’s work without permission
can only be legal if it’s a “fair use”
• Purpose of use needs to transform the
original and be criticism or commentary,
rather than attention getting
• Commercial nature of an ad weighs
against “fair use”
• More “transformative” the less the
commercial nature matters
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5. Supreme Court Sets
Standard for “Fair Use”
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6. Cases Finding Ad “Fair Use”
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7. Cases Finding Ad Not Fair Use
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8. Cases Finding Ad Not Fair Use
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9. Cases Finding Ad Not Fair Use
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10. Who Would Have Won?
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11. Teachings
1. Be careful you will likely get a complaint
2. Research property owner
3. Ads face an uphill battle
4. Use must comment or criticize the original
work – not just use it because its cool
5. Key stakeholders should sign off on risk
6. Most won’t get Goldieblox-style publicity
7. Legal battles are expensive – even if you are
right
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12. Follow me on Twitter
@BriHeidelberger
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13. More Mini Law Lessons
youtube.com/AdAge.com
&
youtube.com/BrianHeidelberger
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