Ok, very simple question here. When Dave shows one of “Dr. Phil’s Words of Wisdom” (which, for those unwashed heathen who don’t watch The Late Show, is when Dave airs a very brief clip from Dr. Phil’s talk show, typically one phrase like “I want to be a beautiful woman” that sounds totally bizarre and nonsensical out of context) – does he have to get clearance from NBC? Or is it one of those “fair use” things that he can do no matter what NBC thinks?
Dr. Phil is not an NBC show - it is syndicated. I realize this doesn’t answer the question, which is whether the Letterman show needs permission to show short clips of Dr. Phil.
Even if Letterman needs permission, I wouldn’t expect this to be an obstacle. I’ll bet the producers of Dr. Phil love the “Words of Wisdom” segments. It’s free advertising for the Dr. Phil show.
I know the Supreme Court has ruled that you can parody someone without risking being sued for libel following the infamous Larry Flint/Jerry Falwell case. It’s also ruled that you can run passages from books or songs for critique purposes without asking permission from the author.
A short clip of a show may just be an extension of this.
I think if you use under ‘X’ seconds you’re not in trouble. There was a cable access show that use to use this loophole (if it is a loophole and not a joke I missed) to great effect - showing less than a second of Jody Foster in some movie and then talking about how good she was in that scene, etc.
I know that one night letterman followed a particulary embarrasing clip with:
“I keep waiting for the cease-and-desist letter and it never comes.”
When Dr. Phil came on Letterman, he had a “Words of Wisdom from David Letterman.” That was hilarious.
Dr. Phil’s lawyers could send out a cease and desist order. Letterman’s lawyers could respond with a fair use or parody defense.
The only way to know who would win would be to actually take it to court.
Whatever the legality, it would be strategically foolish for the owners of the Dr. Phil show to make a stink about it–Letterman’s viewership is a lot bigger than Phil’s, and think about the negative publicity…