YouTube Defending Select Videos Against DMCA Abuse

Galaga88 writes: It's not a complete solution, but YouTube is going to begin stepping up to defend select videos in court on fair use terms, including covering court costs. Will this help stem the tide of bad DMCA takedown requests, or just help the select few YouTube doesn't want to lose? From the blog post linked: We are offering legal support to a handful of videos that we believe represent clear fair uses which have been subject to DMCA takedowns. With approval of the video creators, we’ll keep the videos live on YouTube in the U.S., feature them in the YouTube Copyright Center as strong examples of fair use, and cover the cost of any copyright lawsuits brought against them. ... In addition to protecting the individual creator, this program could, over time, create a “demo reel” that will help the YouTube community and copyright owners alike better understand what fair use looks like online and develop best practices as a community.

Comments

Re:Defense will be based on advertising dollars

[Zero__Kelvin]

"Google and Youtube really does not care about fair use or the legal rights of their users."

nitehawk214 does not care if you know if that is true, as he has no idea if it is or if it isn't, but he does hate Google, and will write whatever he can against them in hopes that he can sway your opinion of them.

Re:Dailymotion/Vimeo

[Greyfox]

Yeah, the Worth a Buy Shadow of Morder review alleges that Warner Brothers was threatening to issue DMCA takedowns to youtube reviewers who didn't have a branding agreement with Warner Brothers. I've been hearing similar allegations about other games from a number of reviewers. Obviously that didn't happen with Mack's video, as it's still up, but it highlights the kind of abuse that's possible under existing laws.