Team Bieber threatens site using Bieb's image to protest proposed copyright bill it claims could put him in jail
Is this irony or the opposite of irony?
Justin Bieber’s people have apparently threatened legal action against a website using his face to fight a proposed bill that would make unauthorized Web streaming of copyrighted content a felony.
See, the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, or S.978 has gotten people all worried, ostensibly that artists like Justin Bieber could spend up to five years in jail. It’s been dubbed the “Bieber Bill.”
According to the Washington Post, internet freedom advocates say the bill’s open-ended language means Bieber, and people like him, who post videos to YouTube could wind up in the big house.
Bieber, of course, was discovered after his mom posted videos of him singing songs by artists such as Usher and Chris Brown. Usher did not sue him but instead became his mentor.
The folks behind DemandProgress.org think the bill could shut down Twitter and YouTube and that “Facebook, Myspace, and Google+ would be at risk,” while “The cyberlocker and streaming provisions could affect your iPhone, Android, AmazonCloud, Pandora, Grooveshark and even your email accounts.”
And Fight for the Future, an organization for freedom in technology, says the bill could apply to things like “singing a song, dancing to background music, or posting a video of a kids’ school play.”
The concerns seem a bit dramatic and The Hollywood Reporter argues that The Bieb going to jail is unlikely.
Still, Fight for the Future launched a site last week called FreeBieber.Org, which features information about the bill and pics photoshopped to make it look like The Bieb is doing hard time.
And now, THR reports that The Bieb’s people have gone after the website, unhappy with how he’s being used as a prop. “His lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to shut down "Free Bieber," arguing that the website itself was violating his trademark, privacy and publicity rights, doing things like promising the arrival of "Free Bieber" t-shirts with the teen star shown behind jail bars.”
Fight for the Future has retained a nonprofit legal advocacy group, which argues that the website makes fair use of Bieber’s image because it’s a political website.
Oddly, in a radio interview Bieber, who appeared to be hearing about any of this for the first time, said the person who crafted the bill "needs to be locked up."
