BY MATT WICKENHEISER

Portland Press Herald

Opponents of same-sex marriage on Wednesday called claims that they violated National Public Radio's copyright by using content from a radio show in their latest TV ad "ridiculous and frivolous."

NPR sent cease-and-desist letters Tuesday to Stand for Marriage Maine and its public relations consultant, Schubert Flint of California. Stand for Marriage Maine is the political action committee that's campaigning to overturn Maine's new same-sex marriage law.

"Yesterday we received a letter from a staff lawyer with NPR asserting that an advertisement by the Yes on 1 campaign violated NPR's copyright and demanded that we cease airing the ad. This is a ridiculous and frivolous complaint," wrote Marc Mutty, chairman of Stand for Marriage Maine, in a prepared statement. "There has been no copyright violation against NPR or anyone else. This is a protected exercise of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and is expressly contemplated as 'fair use' in our nation's copyright laws."

In a letter Tuesday to NPR's legal counsel, Stand for Marriage Maine's Indiana-based law firm, Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom, said that no permission was required to use pieces of an NPR story, "Massachusetts Schools Grapple with Including Gay & Lesbian Relationships in Sex Education," from NPR's "All Things Considered" on Sept. 13, 2004.

The ad, which began appearing on TV stations and the Internet on Friday, suggests that gay relationships and gay sex could be discussed in Maine schools if the law is not overturned.

Schubert Flint rejected the copyright violation claim on Tuesday. Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom said Wednesday that the use of the audio content is protected.

"The PAC's use of this very short audio segment is protected ... for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, and education as it relates directly to the PAC's tax-exempt purpose," the attorneys wrote.

Dana Davis Rehm, executive vice president of marketing, communications and external relations for NPR, said Tuesday that the organization doesn't think the use of the content represents "fair use."

Fair use is a legal concept that allows use of small amounts of copyrighted material in certain situations, including political ads.

"The use of the ('All Things Considered') story was a very central piece of the ad," Rehm said Tuesday. "It wasn't a small quote, or a quote among a series of quotes, as often would appear in a fair-use situation."