Copyright Infringement on YouTube = WTF?

A video of mine was taken down on August 6, 2007, due to copyright infringement. I know this was the case...but it was a video response to another video with copyrighted material. To understand what their reasoning was, I wrote the following letter to YouTube via the contact form...

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"I feel down that my "X-Men 108 Remix" video was taken down, but I do understand why. It's material protected by law. However, I have 2 similar videos which are sequels. This makes things complicated.

Since my video was taken down, I have made those other videos private, because I THINK that's what you do with videos of that type. Or does that not work either? Are those videos still going to be removed from my account, and going to count against my record?

Please understand that I WILL remove the videos if that is the case. I DO NOT want to lose my account, and will comply with all rules. If making all my other videos private is enough, very well, if I need to remove them, very well. I would just like to know the proper procedure.

I'm being long winded about this because I wish I understood the 'copyright infringement rules on YouTube better. Over 70% of YouTube is copyrighted material. Kajetokun, the user I responded to with 'X-Men 108 Remix', continues to make similar videos, and has done so for a year (and for that matter, LittleKuriboh as well, but he's been dealing with problems of his own).

Can this be explained to me? I do not want Kajetokun's videos removed, as they are enjoyed by all, but I would like to know if the same rules are followed for the both of us. If he's allowed to create those highly popular videos, why can't I upload less significant ones?

Again, just want to know what you would like me to do. If having my remaining videos as private will do, thank you. If I must remove them all, thank you. Would just like to receive the word."

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However, due to the 350 character limit, I needed to edit it down, and ended up with the following...

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"I know 'X-Men 108 Remix' is copyrighted. But I have 2 sequels. I've made them private. THINK that protects me, or is that still going to hurt my account?

WILL remove videos if that's the case. DON'T want to lose my account. If private videos is enough, good. If need to remove them, okay. Will follow through on procedure. Tell me what you want."

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The response from "Harry" was a huge disappointment...

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"Thanks for your inquiry. We're glad you take copyright laws seriously - YouTube does too. In general, you must be certain that your video does not infringe someone else's copyright before you upload it to our site. We cannot make this determination for you, it's your responsibility to know the rules, but we suggest you refer to our Copyright Tips at (URL link which was misspelled) where we've provided some guidelines and links to help you determine whether your video infringes someone else's copyright."

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In other words, no direct answer to my questions...then again, I sounded like a caveman, so I don't know how they could have responded properly.

And so I was prompted to make this ranting video about the situation on YouTube (and sadly removed my videos as well). I hope some answers can be gleaned in that way.

Links to people I've mentioned in the video...

Kajetokun (how to pronounce?)
http://youtube.com/profile?user=Kajetokun

notxenon (in actuallity Xenon)
http://youtube.com/profile?user=notxenon

Twisted Kaiju Theater
http://www.neomonsterisland.com

Fungo
http://youtube.com/profile?user=fungo

failedvlogger (aka theboringdispatcher)
http://youtube.com/failedvlogger

MondoMedia
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MondoMedia

And sorry to say, LittleKuriboh is suspended...again. :(

P.S. While I don't mention it in the video, I also found it curious renetto used footage from GregSolomon's movies when he said there has never been any contact for months. So he's either pulling our leg, or Greg has legal grounds to sue. :S

http://youtube.com/profile?user=renetto
http://youtube.com/profile?user=GregSolomon

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• copyright
• infringement
• violation
• suspended
• satire
• Xmen
• Kajetokun
• LittleKuriboh
• notxenon
• TKT
• Fungo
• MondoMedia

[ShadowWolfRising]

the flagging policies of youtube make it so any video flagged enough times is taken down.

whether it breaks any rules/laws or not.

[JoeSomebody2]

@ShadowWolfRising Sounds a bit too much like a pack mentality to me. YT should be sticking up for all forms of communication, not just that which the masses deem appropriate. :(

[akanicolerocks711]

caveman, cracked me up! lol

[JoeSomebody2]

@akanicolerocks711

Had to rewatch video to know where the "caveman" reference was...wow. I was a funny guy back in the day. :D

[dabaddchampion]

Heyyo, this is rediculas how somethings are allowed and somethings are not. I made a few remakes of Michael's songs and 1 of them is falling under the same statics. May I ask what happens 'cause my video is still up. DO they take it down or am I supposed to. Thanks for reading.

[JoeSomebody2]

@dabaddchampion

Sounds like the same sort of deal with the "Battletoad Earth" video I made. Loophole allows the content creator to get ad money or something? *shrug* I would suggest checking the "Copyright Info" of your video to be sure. ;)

[Pumablues2525]

No, seriously, Stan Lee isn't dead. He's alive and kicking.

[dan144x]

simple answer made complicated by google: because youtube are here to promote music, videos, free speech, and google which bought youtube is here to infringe on our freedoms that are now known as FreeDumb, because Google is dumbing youtube down into a pathetic catharis of money, ego sucking money fiends (google basically), and so on. Google fucking tracks everything you type. Youtube allows you like yahoo to choose that opotion of not. KILL GOOGLE, they're destroying your videos, mine, etc.

[ShadowWolfRising]

@JoeSomebody2

my previous account was a victim of a person who made many accounts and flagged videos til the person was suspended, but i was far from the first he did, he did it to many, including NintendoCapriSun and Chuggaconroy.

many days of recording...........sodding gone.

[dabaddchampion]

Thanks man I appreciate it, I sub'ed.

[JoeSomebody2]

@chaosmaster07

And I JIZZED IN MY PSP!!! :D