I'm not a lawyer or anyting approaching one but this is my understanding:

The Arcade Fire thing and this are two unrelated issues, which the thing with the Arcade Fire was only a controversy for a few hours because the use of their song was reported before anyone bothered to contact a lawyer (and I think it was FOX, not the NFL who used the song). The Fair Use law was what allowed FOX to use a few seconds of the Arcade Fire song without obtaining their explicit permission (it's also the same thing that allows Girl Talk to do whatever it is that he does, so that sword cuts both ways).

Using a different recording of The White Stripes song without their permission/licensing is more troubling, but I'm not sure it's that uncommon or illegal. There was an article in Spin a few years ago about how some people re-record hit songs that aren't available in (or were pulled from) iTunes and have been somewhat successful (at least until the song is reinstated). It's a really terrible thing and I'd much rather see the artists recognized and compensated for using their songs (it's one of the few places where they can actually make money these days) and if The White Stripes didn't want to have their song licensed, the Air Force should have found someone who wouldn't mind, not create a designer ripoff. I'm not saying this is right, just that it'll be difficult for The White Stripes to prevail.

Actually, I think that the Arcade Fire thing, now that I think about it, was because FOX licensed those rights through the publishers and didn't need to get artists permission to use them as long as they paid the royalties for it. Girl Talk isn't a completely accurate comparison.

for what it's worth, I was with a bunch of in-the-know types at the superbowl who said that the arcade fire was used as a sync with permission, with the royalties going to benefit a pre-established haiti cause. random blog about it -- http://blog.muchmusic.com/arcade-fire-licenses-wake-up-to-super-bowl-for-haiti/ just sayin'.

Thanks Viva - you're right! -- but that was for *this* year's use of the Arcade Fire song... I think the Fox thing was a few years back.

And strangely, speaking of things Canadian... did you hear that the Super Bowl broke TV viewing records in Canada too? Everyone loves the Saints.

der. whoopsie.