Has this happened to you?At knoxnews, we post a lot of our videos on YouTube, especially those done by our TV critic (they get a lot more traffic there than on our site).
However, we recently received this email from YouTube.
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation claiming that this material is infringing:
"Reno 911!" officers "ain't retarded": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl4V4lzTyI8
Ok, this is a video that our writer shot. It wasn't shot on a movie or TV set. It's not a bootleg movie or even a movie trailer. It's journalism; it's an interview!
Here's the offending clip in Windows Media (WMV) format.
What's up with that?
It makes me think that the garish cigar-chomping studio bosses of yore would like come back as the studio bosses of the Internet. But the studio system ended sometime back in the 20th century, right? Maybe not at 20th Century Fox.
Now, that's retarded.
ShareThis; "Christmas Treats")
; "David Carr of the New York Times")
; "FLDemocracy2012.com")
; "4178265189_4785cf3fa5.jpg")
; "9-22-11-2.png")
; "markgalsergplus.jpg")
; "IMG_0520.JPG")
; "Knox County Cell Calls on AT&T")
; "Bonnaroo 2011")
; "Sourcing Stories")
Google+
If you think that's odd, try this:
http://theknightshift.blogspot.com/2007/08/viacom-hits-me-with-copyright.html
Yeah, that was like boneheaded.
You know, you can send a reply to YouTube and whoever sent the takedown notice could be punished for sending frivolous takedown requests. That's in the DMCA, and a couple of people are already pursuing Viacom because of that type of heavy-handed b.s.
That's bull shit.
"Has this happened to you?"
Yes, it HAS happened to me! I'm the guy that SayUncle above cited.
I got the clip of VH1 using my video restored to YouTube. The Electronic Frontier Foundation ( http://www.eff.org is their website) was a huge help. The most important thing that I did was file a DMCA counter-notification claim. I posted how I did that on my blog at http://theknightshift.blogspot.com/2007/09/youtubeviacom-aftermath-part-2-dmca.html
You guys should seriously fight this! Y'all have an even stronger case than I did IMHO.
Good luck!
Chris Knight
theknightshift.blogspot.com