Stephen Colbert Groks the Viacom v. Google Suit

To understand what’s at the crux of the $1 billion Viacom suit against Google for copyright infringement, look no further than the guy who has become the flash point for the suit, Stephen Colbert. Colbert spent Monday’s episode giving a platform to the debate of copyright law and fair use that is embodied by the current collision of old media content owners versus new media technologies that enable the mashing up of that content.The Colbert Report has been at the crux of the Viacom-YouTube/Google suit since Viacom first sued and highlighted the fact that copyrighted episodes of the The Colbert Report were freely available on YouTube. The Electronic Freedom Foundation then sued Viacom over YouTube’s takedown of a Colbert parody produced by MoveOn.org and Brave New Films.

On Monday’s episode, Colbert mapped out the players with skin in the game with his guest, John Perry Barlow of the EFF. Here’s an extrapolation of what he whiteboarded for the audience:

Colbert was at his subversive best as he gave platform to the EFF’s suit against Viacom and their interpretation that a parody of a parody is fair use of The Colbert Show. While he is clearly beholden to Viacom, (“they own me, baby… I am their bitch”), by giving a platform to the EFF he is emboldening the enemy of his parent company.

Watch the clip right here (via ColbertNation.com, not YouTube) to see Colbert lay it all out:

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/syndicated_player/index.jhtml

Colbert clearly “gets” what is going on with mashup culture and that value is added by allowing the market to remix and remake content that he is creating. And all of this casts a reflective glow back to his show. To showcase his point he announced the Stephen Colbert:For Your Editing Pleasure contest, encouraging views to download footage of his mock interview with PBS’s Gwen Ifill. Viewers are encouraged to edit the footage to make Colbert appear in as unflattering a light as possible and resubmit it to the show. Through this contest he is showcasing that creativity that can be unleashed when content is freely distributed, and how smart copyright owners are encouraging the remixing of their content facilitating deeper connections with their audiences.