TechDirt has a story today about Paramount sending a “take down” notice to YouTube for a video that a fan shot and posted of the filming of the latest Transformers video. The piece discusses that the “take down” notice essentially squashed any community buzz that could be created and just built up more resentment for Viacom. Paramount is owned by Viacom who is still embroiled in its $1 billion lawsuit with Viacom. Check out my video from three years ago when I discussed this on KQED’s “This Week in Northern California.”
But back to the Transformers fan video take down story. Is anyone from the EFF or even ACLU stepping in to take this case? I don’t think I’ve seen a situation where someone was using their own equipment to record their own video in a public space and a private company had the right to remove that video.
I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think they have any protection under DMCA on this one. But YouTube is overly protective here. When a company with lots of lawyer money to sue says, “Take this down,” they do.
I had Viacom pull down a video I produced for ZDTV about The Daily Show. They had absolutely no rights to pull it down, but because it said “The Daily Show” they just immediately assumed that they owned it.
What they’re doing is preventing any attempt at commenting on copywritten material. Since you have to put the word “Transformers” or in my case “The Daily Show” to comment on the item, they can just assume it’s their own. And if you got enough lawyer money you can claim commentary on your content is your content.
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Why do the "They still don't get it" stories persist?
by David Spark on May 15, 2010
TechDirt has a story today about Paramount sending a “take down” notice to YouTube for a video that a fan shot and posted of the filming of the latest Transformers video. The piece discusses that the “take down” notice essentially squashed any community buzz that could be created and just built up more resentment for Viacom. Paramount is owned by Viacom who is still embroiled in its $1 billion lawsuit with Viacom. Check out my video from three years ago when I discussed this on KQED’s “This Week in Northern California.”
What’s amazing is that video is from three years ago yet the vitriol against Viacom still persists. Just read the angry comments people posted about Viacom.
But back to the Transformers fan video take down story. Is anyone from the EFF or even ACLU stepping in to take this case? I don’t think I’ve seen a situation where someone was using their own equipment to record their own video in a public space and a private company had the right to remove that video.
I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think they have any protection under DMCA on this one. But YouTube is overly protective here. When a company with lots of lawyer money to sue says, “Take this down,” they do.
I had Viacom pull down a video I produced for ZDTV about The Daily Show. They had absolutely no rights to pull it down, but because it said “The Daily Show” they just immediately assumed that they owned it.
What they’re doing is preventing any attempt at commenting on copywritten material. Since you have to put the word “Transformers” or in my case “The Daily Show” to comment on the item, they can just assume it’s their own. And if you got enough lawyer money you can claim commentary on your content is your content.
UPDATE (5/18/10): Please read “Is complaining publicly the best way to get customer service?”
Here’s another video from the Transformers III shooting that wasn’t taken down. Explain that one Paramount.
Photo credit: CC nicogenin
Tagged as: commenting, copyright, DMCA, KQED, lawyers, Paramount, Viacom