Copyright “Strike” Systems Are Modern Witch Trials

A takedown of a YouTube video that has been held as a model of fair use prompted widespread outrage last week. The video, Buffy vs Edward, was eventually reinstated and the claims dropped, but that’s not the end of the discussion. The process used, like most ‘x strike’ copyright programs, relies on good faith from the claimant, but what happens when there is none?

The YouTube copyright takedown system is a mess.

Takedowns and monetization claims can be made by just about anyone, as long as you’re a large media company, and there’s little anyone unfairly or improperly targeted by them can do.

A lot of the problems with the system were exposed a year ago when UMG took down the Mega Song, but last week more tales of bad faith acting have come out, with the takedown by Lionsgate films of a well-regarded “poster boy” for fair use and transformative work.

The story of the Buffy vs Edward takedown is not that hard to guess, and can be read at creator Jonathan McIntosh’s site. It’s actually a story that’s a lot more common than most realize, but the major difference is the pedigree of the work. Last year it was screened for the US Copyright Office at one of the hearings on exemptions to the DMCA. It was later mentioned by name in the recommendations as an example of transformative works.

I guess the Lionsgate notification system doesn’t read recommendations from the US Copyright Office on exceptions to copyright law.

The good news is that the work was restored on the 10th, after significant work by McIntosh to prove his innocence. The problem is that until that point, for the 3 months this dragged on, he was treated as if he had been convicted of copyright infringement.

read more: http://theintelhub.com/2013/01/16/copyright-strike-systems-are-modern-witch-trials/