Rosenblum Productions, the company that apparently purchased the rights to the novel 1984 from George Orwell’s estate is claiming that the Hillary Clinton / 1984 youtube mashup is a violation of those rights. See BoingBoing.
Here is the original Macintosh 1984 ad. (I guess Apple got permission from Rosenblum). This is one of the most brilliant ads ever composed. I recall studying it in an advertising class, and apparently Apple’s executives were mortified and thought it was terrible. Nevertheless, it was completed way too late to pull it and they just went with it. The rest is history.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8]
And here is the Hillary Mashup. I am not trying to start a debate on the relative merits of Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo]
I suppose that arguably the Hillary mashup could be an infringement upon the 1984 ad. I doubt it, but I wouldn’t throw rocks at an attorney who filed such a suit. However, Ms. Rosenbloom should drag her copyright counsel into her office and make him eat bees for giving her such stupid advice.
