IMP Voice Mail

While I am confident in my position regarding Fair Use AND all of the informed people I have consulted have confirmed my interpretations regarding Fair Use we got overwhelmed with topics this past Sunday that were more interesting. However, IMP tried MORE threats to silence dissent. Mike left a voice mail (one voice mail and FIVE phone calls from TWO different phone numbers). In it he said:

it has to do with the commercial viability of the podcast or the market value of the podcast, cuz the minute that it is used in a broadcast medium, since we are in competition essentially with each other, the value of the podcast is decreased and if you look at a lot of Supreme Court rulings on this that's the 4th and probably the most weightiest factor on whether or not something nix, uh, fair use and since your show is a commercial entity that is something you would be facing

Oh yeah, for good measure they tried to throw in the following threat:

you'd also be dealing with the fcc regulations on something like that

FCC, huh.

What are the 4 factors that Mike refers to?

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Let's pretend for the moment that Mike knows what he is talking about and the 4th criteria is the most important. There are 2 things that are considered here. First, is the use in question a direct substitution. Since their commentary is so valueless already my commentary would not come close to direct substitution. Second, is there a potential market harm beyond direct substitution? But the rulings show that commentary, even negative commentary, is a very strong Fair Use defense which trumps market value harms.

Then I got a voice mail from Peter. In it he said:

maybe sometime i may have an opportunity to come on our show and speak to you about what we do on imp and what my views are on various issues and i'm very confident that you & i will have a good time together. i only ask that you stop inflaming the negative passions of your audience by attacking imp.
...
most of them engage in selective reporting usually targeted towards the lowest common denominator. appealing to the morbid base instincts of the supporters to whip up a flame. but we did not do that. so even if you do not want to hear my commentary you can hear directly from senator bachmann. i not only gave her constructive criticism but praised her when need be. i'm not interested in villifying her nor in destroying her political career nor is it my job to glorify or pay tributes to her. we try to be fair and balanced. listen to all of the political interviews we've had on the podcast. that is why senator dick durenberger, when we interviewed him, described it as one of the best interviews he's ever had. this is my policy to be fair and to be balanced.

Nope, sorry, wrong answer. NOT fair and balanced would have been more accurate.

You see what is happening? They want to attack the Right and when anyone opposes them or their positions they try to threaten and intimidate. The want to silence ALL criticism ("stop inflaming the negative passions").

And if you think they will stop with only MDE or Race to the Right then you are mistaken.

They must be shown for what they really are...thugs (with bad commentary). Thugs who intimidate their opposition.