April 19, 2007
You may have noticed that the Kentucky Bigfoot video, photo stills, posts and comments concerning them are no longer posted at Cryptomundo. More about that very soon.
The following article was at posted OnPoint Legal News, a legal news reporting website, by Matthew Heller on February 19th, 2007. It has been reposted on other blogs, message forums and websites as well.
There has been much speculation at these other venues, as I have not spoken publicly about the case, up until now.
Bigfoot Expert Claims “Fair Use” for Video Posting
In an unusual preemptive suit, a Texas man claims the “fair use” exception to copyright liability applies to his Internet publication of a videotape that supposedly shows a Bigfoot snacking on pancakes.
Craig Woolheater, co-founder of the Texas Bigfoot Research Center, filed the suit last week, alleging that another Bigfoot researcher, Matt Moneymaker, has accused him of infringing the copyright to the video and threatened him with financial ruin for posting the tape on the Cryptomundo.com Web site “as part of a discussion on video evidence of Bigfoot.”
Moneymaker shot the murky nighttime footage in July 2005 while investigating the supposed sighting of one of the mythical, ape-like creatures in Kentucky. What he has described as a “real deal” Bigfoot helps itself to syrup-smothered pancakes left as bait in the backyard of a home.
The video originally appeared on a Web site operated by Moneymaker’s Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO). “Plaintiff’s publication of the Video is protected … as a fair use of copyrighted works for educational, research, and newsworthy purposes,” the complaint for declaratory relief states.
The “purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes” is part of the statutory test for fair use. The video posted by Woolheater on Cryptomundo is accessible free of charge.
Another element of the fair use test — the “nature of the copyrighted work” — also appears to favor Woolheater. The video, shot with a motion-sensing camera from a fixed location, is a “factual work,” which qualifies for less protection than an “artistic representation” of ideas, emotions, or feelings.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a TV station’s unlicensed broadcast of news video was not a fair use, in part because of its damaging effect on “the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.” Los Angeles News Service v. KCAL-TV, 108 F.3d 1119 (1997)
But according to Woolheater’s suit, Moneymaker may have himself facilitated the unlicensed use of his work. After the BFRO site experienced download failure due to high demand for the video, the suit says, he “advised members of the BFRO community to ‘feel free to send it to others in the group’” — and one of those members allegedly gave a copy to Woolheater in September 2005.
In another fair use case, the 1st Circuit found the potential market for a model’s portfolio photos “small or nonexistent.” Núñez v. Caribbean International News, 235 F.3d 18 (2000)
The same could be true of the market for the Moneymaker tape, particularly if, as several Cryptomundo readers conclude, the Bigfoot sighting is nothing more than a hoax perpetrated by someone dressed up in an animal costume.
2/19/07On Point legal News
That’s right, you can download the actual complaints from the lawsuits. They are public record and they are hosted at the OnPoint News website, not here at Cryptomundo.
UPDATE … A Canadian developer and Bigfoot investigator has sued Woolheater and Cryptomundo for injunctive relief and damages in Texas, claiming they pirated the video. Adrian Erickson paid Moneymaker $20,000 for the rights, the complaint says.On Point legal News
Well, I can tell you this. While I can’t post the settlement agreement with Erickson, I can tell you that no money was exchanged. I took down the still photos and the link to the video, because Erickson said he bought the video from Moneymaker for $20,000, and he didn’t want it shown to others. I respect his right to keep it to himself and avoid embarrassment.
I will discuss the details of the lawsuits very soon here on Cryptomundo.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Eyewitness Accounts, Media Appearances, Sasquatch, Videos