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

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.

Comments

You think it's bad now?

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Re:You think it's bad now?

[Anonymous Coward]

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?"

Re:You think it's bad now?

[JackieBrown]

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

tips on how to resolve such claims

[GrahamCox]

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

Re:tips on how to resolve such claims

[pr0t0]

This. So much this.

More than a few years ago, Sony put rootkits on some of their music CD's. It was abhorrently wrong, they knew it, they did it anyway. That was the last straw for me. It came after SOE released Everquest II incomplete and broken. It came after proprietary audio formats (strong push against MP3) and proprietary media. It was during a time of suing grandmothers for music downloading. It was during a time of Sony's clear (ongoing?) campaign against its customers and fans.

Since that time, I have not purchased Sony music, will not buy Sony consumer electronics, and won't even see a Sony pictures movie. I boycott ALL Sony related products and services, and have for the last ten years. People need to wake up and exercise the only power they have by voting with their wallets. We have to keep these companies terrified that such missteps will lead to their ruin, or else sleep in the bed we made without complaint.

FYI - Here's a pretty comprehensive list of Sony's subsidiaries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re:So what the fuck is the story here?

[someone1234]

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

Re:License agreements need an automatic terminatio

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony's lawyer didn't immediately back down because he was completely ignorant and thus assumed his company was in the right.

Also, he explains in TFA that he did have such a clause in his terms of use with them and they did in fact lose those rights due to failing to remove the claim within the more generous 48hrs he gave them.

The only reason they're still allowed to use the video is because they accepted a secondary deal that explicitly credits him and his website on their video, even if it took them days to get that done.

Re:So what the fuck is the story here?

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't the first time this happens. A Norwegian artist, Bjorn Lynne, had a similar problem where Sony used music that he had released for free usage as background music on one of their audiobooks. They then shut his Youtube channel down.
It was sorted out eventually.
The real problem is for those who aren't the original artist. If someone else were to use the music of Lynne as background music they too would be shut down by Sony.
Without being the original artist they will have a much harder time disputing it.

Re:So what the fuck is the story here?

[sjames]

Actually, it is pro big business. Note that the actual copyright owner is the one who got his work taken down and then couldn't get it back up because Sony "confirmed" that their (wrongful) claim was valid.

Re:Sony's claim was actually valid

[Purity Of Essence]

If you RTFA instead of just commenting, you'll see that Sony had an exclusive license.

It doesn't say that at all. The article very clearly indicates it was a non-exclusive license.

I had issued a license for the claiming party to use my footage but they have no claim to any copyright for my content.

4. Copyright: Mitch Martinez, retains all right, title, and interest in and to the Stock Files not expressly granted by the License Grant above. Such rights are protected by the United States and International Copyright laws and international treaty provisions. You may be held legally responsible for any copyright infringement that is caused or encouraged by your failure to abide by the terms of this Agreement.

Re:So what the fuck is the story here?

[shione]

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?

Re:So what the fuck is the story here?

[Feral Nerd]

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.

Re:add a clause.

[wvmarle]

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.