It’s not just the Chronicle that is having copyrighted stuff lifted without approval by Republican campaign operatives. Yesterday, Democratic activist Vince Liebowitz complained that the campaign of Republican Congressman Michael T. McCaul lifted an entire article from his Capitol Annex blog and reprinted it without permission. The article, written by Leibowitz back during the primaries, attacks candidate Larry Joe Doherty for some allegedly racially insensitive remarks. (At the time, Leibowitz he was supporting Doherty’s primary opponent, Dan Grant.)
Now that Doherty is the Democratic nominee, the article is no longer to be found on Capitol Annex and Leibowitz is on board in support of him.
Although reproducing parts of a copyrighted work can legally fall under “fair use,” reproducing whole content can fall afoul of the law.
Leibowitz sent a cease and desist letter to McCaul’s campaign, but McCaul spokesman Mike Rosen sent out a press release saying that “because of the First Amendment,” they would leave the content online.
“This is a trashy, tacky attempt to make it appear as though I support Mike McCaul over Larry Joe Doherty in the race for Congress in the 10th District,” Leibowitz wrote. “Not only is the use of my copyrighted content from Capitol Annex a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it is a blatant attempt to make it appear as though a prominent progressive blogger is supporting McCaul over Larry Joe Doherty.”
And this afternoon, Democratic blogger Rachel Farris was outraged that Republican House District 17 candidate Tim Kleinschmidt took a photo from her Mean Rachel blog, and, again without permission, reproduced it in a campaign ad. The photo features Kleinschmidt’s Democratic opponent, Donnie Dippel, posing next to Ferris’ car, which sports license plates reading “OBAMA.”
“I find this attack ad on two candidates whom I have met and admire – Barack Obama and Donnie Dippel – to be not only an illegal use of my photo but the most deceptive type of campaign tactics that I have personally been dealt from Republicans,” Farris wrote. “Dippel’s opponent, Tim Kleinschmidt, is an attorney who has evidently decided that the copyright laws do not apply to him.”
Obviously, “Newsdesk” is appalled by this, but in the case of Leibowitz, I’d offer: Perhaps next time you should think carefully about how savagely you attack your own party’s candidates in the primaries.
This article appears in October 24 • 2008.