Earlier this week, a judgment was finally reached in the long-running dispute between Stephanie Lenz and Universal Music Group (Lenz v. Universal [PDF]) known as the "dancing baby" lawsuit. The decision represents a very important ruling protecting the concept of "fair use" and helps to eliminate a means of censorship on the internet.
Rap Genius Settles
As a follow-up to that, it was announced earlier this week that RapGenius.com—one of those sites—has reached an agreement with the NMPA. While it's still unclear what they actually agreed to, I'm happy that Rap Genius is on the path toward becoming a licensed service. As Rap Genius Co-Founder Ilan Zechory put it: "The NMPA's members represent some of the best songwriters in the world. Rap Genius allows these songwriters to showcase their work and interact with their biggest fans in unprecedented ways—we couldn't be more excited about this partnership."
We'll have to wait to see the concept of "fair use" argued in court another time.