Peanuts sings "Hey Ya!" United Media place Cease and Desist to Web Site

[Save_Animaniacs]

The popular tune "Hey Ya" by the rap duo "Outkast" has somehow affected out beloved Charlie Brown and The Peanuts Gang. Turns out that a Web Site made a video file using "It's Christmas Charlie Brown!" To the tune of the "Outkast" song, instead of the classic "Linus and Lucy" that it was played on the original TV holiday special. This caused the Web Site to receive an E-mail from Angela Gordon, on behalf of United Feature Syndicate/United Media, who owns the copyrights to the Peanuts Gang, including the TV special. The E-mail requested the Web Site owners to immediately remove the links and files related to the Peanuts Gang performing the song and that anyone who still has the link to the file to cease and desist of using the links. Here's the E-mail response from United Media:


>February 3, 2004
>VIA E-MAIL: (E-mail links removed)
>RE: Unauthorized Use of PEANUTS® Intellectual Property
>To Whom It May Concern:

>United Feature Syndicate, Inc. dba United Media ("UFS") is the exclusive
>owner of all copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property rights in
>and to the world-famous PEANUTS® properties. UFS syndicates the comic
>strip PEANUTS® by Charles Schulz in thousands of newspapers across the
>United States and around the world. The rights owned by UFS strictly
>prohibit any individual attempts to reproduce, transmit, copy, or otherwise
>utilize the PEANUTS® comic strip, or the characters appearing therein,
>without the express written permission of UFS.


>It has come to our attention that the Website located at (Link removed)
>heyyacb.mov contains an unauthorized copy and derivative reproduction of
>the PEANUTS® characters. Our research shows that you own and/or have
>effective control over this Website. As is made clear above, this material is
>owned by UFS and cannot be used without the express written consent of
>UFS, which consent you have not been granted.


>We therefore demand that you immediately remove all unauthorized
>PEANUTS® materials and any links to unauthorized PEANUTS® materials from
>the Website address (Link removed) heyyacb.mov and any other sites over
>which you have control. You must confirm to us in writing that you have
>complied with our demand by no later than two (2) weeks from the date
>appearing at the top of this letter.


>Nothing in this letter shall be construed as a waiver or relinquishment of any
>right or remedy possessed by UFS or any affected party, all of which are
>expressly reserved.


>Sincerely,
>Angela Gordon

But obviously, I was still curious about it and after a long search I downloaded the "Hey Ya" Peanuts song and it was so hilarious! So good luck in finding it!

[Carolina Red]

I have this video too, and I think that it's really great, especially how they had Linus speaking in the second part of the song.

[Trogdor]

If you hurry, they might still have it on www.ebaumsworld.com (http://www.ebaumsworld.com)

[SirLemming]

I got it. Pretty neat. Not sure why they didn't use the DVD, though.

If you do the right search on a certain search engine, it'll be the 9th item down.

Need to know more? You know what to do.

[candy17]

Oh, yeah. That was funny how it was put together and the use of music dubbed over with something we all know and love. I might try it sometime, but I'm not going to post it on the Net. It's something personal.:D

Long story short, it was hilarious.

PS: Check out the Raging Bull/Flintstones parody trailer.

[LD1984]

I don't know why they would shut it down. I thought it was a great tribute to the Peanuts. I have it saved on my HD forever!

[SirLemming]

This reminds me of the end of that Simpsons episode... the 200th episode where Homer was the sanitation commissioner. The garbage problem became so severe that the population of Springfield had to abandon the town and move somewhere else. A native American picked up a discarded can or something and a tear rolled down his cheek. His compatriot said, "Do yourself a favor. Don't turn around." And, of course, behind him were the garbage-dump ruins of Springfield.

My point behind this lengthy explanation? These people might want to do themselves a favor and never look at animemusicvideos.org.

[Save_Animaniacs]

If you hurry, they might still have it on www.ebaumsworld.com (http://www.ebaumsworld.com)
It was removed! I just found this site:

http://wineinabox.org/junk/HYCB.mov

Hope United Media don't read this!

[Dudley]

It was better than I expected, I even danced to it and everything.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to save a Quicktime video, so I can't keep it.:(

[Nick Biped]

Well, I found it. Pretty fun to watch actually, and it was well done too.

I won't tell you where I found it, but you could always do something like, say, search for "hey ya charlie brown" on Google, and look at, oh, maybe the 18th page that's listed. Just a thought, though. ;)

[lostrune]

I don't know why they would shut it down. I thought it was a great tribute to the Peanuts. I have it saved on my HD forever!

Some copyrights holders are just protective of their rights past a threshold. I guess this went over their threshold.

[CryptiniteDemon]

You can get it on Kazaa

[SirLemming]

Unfortunately, I don't know how to save a Quicktime video, so I can't keep it.:(Search your Temporary Internet Files. "*.mov" or "heyyacb" or something will do it.

[CookieS]

I heard about the United Media being realy strictlers about copyright. Even with photos on a website. Since the property isn't really in development, I'm assuming many of the copyright holders sit around and wait to knock fan sites offline. I guess I'm just surprised they want to do this. I know they protect their copyright in case they ever need to bring a case of extreme misuse to court, but I can't help but recall the "Wazzuup" Superfriends spoof. Cartoon Network didn't freak out like this.

[Mr. Pedro]

I suppose an Outkast remix of the Peanuts theme isn't too far off.

[SirLemming]

By the way, for anyone wondering how they got the timing so accurate, compare "Linus and Lucy" and "Hey Ya". They've got the same beat and tempo, really. Whoever noticed that was pretty smart.

Heck, the songs are kind of similar in other ways, too. Briefly.

[raykremer]

Here's (http://www.venisproductions.com/) the guy who made it, BTW.

[lostrune]

By the way, for anyone wondering how they got the timing so accurate, compare "Linus and Lucy" and "Hey Ya". They've got the same beat and tempo, really. Whoever noticed that was pretty smart.

Heck, the songs are kind of similar in other ways, too. Briefly.

Some people are just "musically-inclined."
There are also some anime music videos that make good use of it.

[Dudley]

I heard about the United Media being realy strictlers about copyright. Even with photos on a website. Since the property isn't really in development, I'm assuming many of the copyright holders sit around and wait to knock fan sites offline. I guess I'm just surprised they want to do this. I know they protect their copyright in case they ever need to bring a case of extreme misuse to court, but I can't help but recall the "Wazzuup" Superfriends spoof. Cartoon Network didn't freak out like this.
I know. A lot of copyrighted characters we all know and love are used without permission, and the owners of the copyrighted characters don't go searching through the web planning to stop all people that misuse their properties.

Who's the idiot that tipped them off in the first place?

[wrenchien]

i hope someday that schultz's survivors do allow someone to continue peanuts for a new generation.

and that if there is a nuclear war, the survivors of that know better than to bring copyright law back into the new world they rebuild. for all our sakes.

[TnAdct1]

Here's (http://www.venisproductions.com/) the guy who made it, BTW.
"Hey, my name is Gary!" :D

Sorry, I couldn't resist it. Anyway, I'm surprised that one of the people behind the Peanuts "Hey Ya" also did the "I Eat People" song and flash video (found out about that after seeing a fan video setting the song to footage from Spirited Away and various other anime).

BTW, I showed the Peanuts video to my older brother, and he definitely liked it a lot.

[Sharklady]

> Since the property isn't really in development, I'm assuming many of the copyright holders sit around and wait to knock fan sites offline. I guess I'm just surprised they want to do this. I know they protect their copyright in case they ever need to bring a case of extreme misuse to court, but I can't help but recall the "Wazzuup" Superfriends spoof. Cartoon Network didn't freak out like this. <

It's true that a lot of copyright holders are willing to let these things slide. None the less, a holder has every legal right to take a hard-nosed attitude, for any reason or for no reason.

As to why United Media is cracking down: perhaps they're worried that, if they allow this incursion, soon someone else will have the Peanuts characters singing obscene rap lyrics.

[Mynd Hed]

and that if there is a nuclear war, the survivors of that know better than to bring copyright law back into the new world they rebuild. for all our sakes.
Umm... no. Copyright law exists for a very good reason-- to allow artists to make a living from their art. If you spent years and years perfecting a great novel, and then some publishing company took it and published it without your permission, making changes to your text that you never approved and making lots of money from your hard work while you never saw a dime, I think you would be very grateful that copyright law existed so that you could make them stop and seek fair compensation.

You may disagree with the way copyright law is currently implemented and/or the way United Media is currently enforcing their legal rights, but whatever injustices you see, trust me, it would be MUCH worse if we had no copyright law at all. If we didn't, we'd have no Peanuts cartoons-- or very many cartoons at all-- because it wouldn't be worth it for a company to fund if they knew that some other company could just steal the product, release it themselves at bargain-basement prices, and get away with it.