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Man Licenses His Video Footage To Sony, Sony Issues Copyright Claim Against Him (petapixel.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the par-for-the-course dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Mitch Martinez creates high-resolution stock video footage, and then licenses it out to people who need footage to go along with their creative projects. He has written an article at PetaPixel explaining his bizarre interaction with Sony Music Entertainment, and the hassle they put him through to fix it. Martinez licensed one of his videos to Epic Records, and they used it as background for a music video on YouTube. Less than two months later, his original video on YouTube was hit with a copyright claim from Sony. After figuring out that Epic Records was a subsidiary to Sony, he disputed the copyright claim — which is usually the end of it. But after reviewing the videos, Sony rejected it, saying their claim was still valid. Martinez then tried to contact the person at Epic Records to whom he issued the license. None of his emails got a response. Then he had to get in touch with Epic's legal department. After a lengthy series of emails, voicemails, and phone calls, he finally got somebody to admit it was his video. It still took a few more calls to work out the details, but the company finally released the copyright claim. Martinez concludes by offering some tips on how to resolve such claims.

8 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. You think it's bad now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The TPP isn't even approved by Congress yet. Crap like this happening will be a cakewalk in comparison to what things will be like if and when Congress approves it. Call and/or write your congressperson now, tell them to vote against it!

    1. Re:You think it's bad now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Ahem. TPP is already "too big to fail." Your congress person knows that, and they'll pay you lip service and then ignore you when the vote comes. It will pass, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

      What's really happening in this "vote"? Hint: It's a political power-renegotiation between legislative and executive branches that goes a little something like this:

      Congress: "Give in to our demands, or we'll torpedo your legacy."
      POTUS: "You wouldn't really do that. Half of you would lose your seats next term."
      Congress: "Well you've seen the voting trend over the past 20 years. We're out in 2-3 cycles anyway, so we've got nothing to lose, and you know it. What'll you give us not to pull the trigger?"
      POTUS: "Shit, okay, what do you want?"

    2. Re:You think it's bad now? by JackieBrown · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You really think that Obama is against this? Exactly which party do you think gets the most money from the entertainment industry?

  2. tips on how to resolve such claims by GrahamCox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't do business with Sony or any of its subsidiary companies?

  3. Re:So what the fuck is the story here? by someone1234 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, next time the automated system will imprison him. Why is he complaining now?

    --
    Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
  4. Re:So what the fuck is the story here? by shione · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The point is large corporations have it so easy to lay copyright claims and when you go to dispute it you have to jump through hoops. Not only was the onus on his to prove to YT that it was his own work even though somebody else is making the claim but he had to contact multiple people at Sony, multiple times just to wake them up. And here is a guy who licensed his work to a large multinational corporation for FREE and he gets screwed over by them. If he didn't waste his time fighting it then he would have been the one losing the rights to his own work. So how is that fair?

  5. Re:So what the fuck is the story here? by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, next time the automated system will imprison him. Why is he complaining now?

    Automated imprisonment?!? Don't be so 1984, we have long since moved on to drone strikes.

  6. Re:add a clause. by wvmarle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It can easily go a step further.

    The license is not necessarily exclusive to Epic Records, which means he can license it to other people as well.

    So now it may happen that Bob has licensed the same video, and is using it legally, and then Epic Records via Sony tries to sue him over copyright infringement. That's bad not only for Bob, but also for Mitch, as he may get a bad name and can't sell his material any more. Bob will also have no idea what's happening to him, as he knows he properly licensed the video from Mitch, who is not related to Sony, yet it's Sony that comes with the infringement claims.

    A big, big mess.