A music company claiming to own the rights to Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" may have gotten more than it bargained for when it took on JibJab Media, the Web animators behind a wildly popular parody of the U.S. presidential campaign.
On Tuesday, Ludlow Music agreed to allow JibJab to distribute its film, which is based on the tune, without interference.
Also Tuesday, JibJab dropped its lawsuit against Ludlow. The settlement ended Ludlow's copyright claims against Shockwave subsidiary AtomFilms and network provider Speedera Networks, said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defended JibJab in the case.
Attorneys for JibJab said they have found evidence that the copyright on Guthrie's song expired in 1973, meaning that anyone can use it for free.
"This song belongs to you and me," quipped von Lohmann...
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