Updated 10/10/2008 06:40 AM
Political ad continues to create controversy
There's a political - and perhaps legal - flare-up in the race for a local state Assembly seat. We recently showed you an ad being run by state Assembly candidate Mark Blanchfield's campaign that was causing controversy as his opponent, incumbent Assemblyman George Amedore, cried foul. Now The Business Review, which taped the original interview the ad was based on, has demanded that Blanchfield's ads stop. Steve Ference reports.ALBANY, N.Y. -- "Just trying to exercise my free speech rights," said 105th Assembly candidate Mark Blanchfield.
Assemblyman George Amedore said, "I think it was a slap in all of our faces, the Class of 2008 40 Under 40 Award, that here's a politician using that video and twisting and misrepresenting it."
The issue is a campaign ad by Democratic Assembly candidate Mark Blanchfield that used an interview of his opponent - Republican Assemblyman George Amedore - from a 40 Under 40 Business Review video.
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In The Business Review video, Amedore said, "I have building in my blood, that's my job. I don't look at the Assembly position as my job, I look at it as serving, giving back."
But Blanchfield's ad stopped the video after Amedore said, "I don't look at the Assembly position as my job."
"It's obvious," said Amedore. "When I was asked a question during the interview, I gave a whole answer. His ads went on to stop my answer just in the part where he wanted it to stop."
The Fair Campaign Practices board ruled the ad was misleading. Now The Business Review has quoted their own publisher as saying, "Our newspaper never granted Mr. Blanchfield permission to use the video for any purpose, including for a commercial for his political campaign. Mr. Blanchfield has edited the video in such a way that it improperly portrays the context of the video interview. Beyond that, this is a misappropriation of The Business Review's rights and clearly constitutes copyright infringement in violation of federal and state laws. We have demanded that Mr. Blanchfield cease the use of the video immediately."
"It's a fair use of it," said Blanchfield. "I think the copyright law is pretty clear. Don't take it from me. Ask people who know more about it."
We did. And the experts don't even agree.
Legal expert Paul DerOhannesian who was unable to talk on camera said it's one thing to use the words from Amedore's Business Review interview, but it's another thing to use that video. He called it a gray area - but one that could cause legal problems.
But a Fair Use scholar from Stanford tells us, "This does not fall into a gray area...You're talking about speech, political speech designed to address a fundamental political question - whether Amedore is the right guy to hold that office. Copyright is not a tool to censor political debate. What's going on in my mind is pretty outrageous."
"It's a long campaign," said Blanchfield. "At this point there's going to be other issues out there. Certainly there are other issues out there."
While Blanchfield said he's pulled the ad because it has "run its course," they both said they just want to discuss the real issues.
"The economy is on everyone's mind," said Blanchfield.
"It's definitely property taxes," said Amedore. "We in the State of New York pay some of the highest in the nation."