For the 2004 United States presidential election, JibJab created a Flash movie entitled "This Land," which featured animated versions of George W. Bush and John Kerry - voiced by comedian Jim Meskimen - singing a parody of Woody Guthrie's song This Land Is Your Land.
The video was considered an instant success, eventually being viewed on every continent (including Antarctica) as well as the International Space Station.[4] The traffic surge forced JibJab's server to be shut down after one day, and the clip was placed on AtomFilms, where it got more than 1 million hits in 24 hours.[5]
After being linked to on thousands of websites, the video was
featured several times in the printed media and on television, including
NBC Nightly News, Fox News and ABC World News Tonight. On July 26, 2004, the creators appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In December 2004, the Spiridellis brothers were named People of the Year by Peter Jennings.[4]
The Richmond Organization, a music publisher that owns the copyright to Guthrie's tune through its Ludlow Music Unit, threatened legal action.[6]
JibJab responded with a lawsuit in a California federal court, claiming
the song was protected under a fair use exemption for parodies. JibJab
and Ludlow Music reached a settlement after JibJab's attorneys unearthed
evidence that the song had passed into the public domain in 1973. The terms of the settlement allowed for the continued distribution of This Land.[7]
-Wikipedia
![[screenshot]](/serve/jibjab_thisland/thisland_screenshot.png)
