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YouTube CEO Says EU's Proposed Copyright Regulation Financially Impossible (googleblog.com)

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has again hit out at proposed new European Union copyright rules which she claims is impossible for a platform like YouTube to comply with, and if done so, could harm the creative industries. Wojcicki said the European Parliament's vote in favor of an overhaul to copyright law two months ago is "unrealistic" because owners often disagree on who owns the rights to online material. In a blog post, she wrote: Take the global music hit "Despacito." This video contains multiple copyrights, ranging from sound recording to publishing rights. Although YouTube has agreements with multiple entities to license and pay for the video, some of the rights holders remain unknown. That uncertainty means we might have to block videos like this to avoid liability under article 13. Multiply that risk with the scale of YouTube, where more than 400 hours of video are uploaded every minute, and the potential liabilities could be so large that no company could take on such a financial risk.

The consequences of article 13 go beyond financial losses. EU residents are at risk of being cut off from videos that, in just the last month, they viewed more than 90bn times. Those videos come from around the world, including more than 35m EU channels, and they include language classes and science tutorials as well as music videos. We welcome the chance to work with policymakers and the industry to develop a solution within article 13 that protects rights holders while also allowing the creative economy to thrive. This could include more comprehensive licensing agreements, collaboration with rights holders to identify who owns what, and smart rights management technology, similar to Content ID.

71 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. That's fine by ArchieBunker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    YouTube can just block all of the EU and watch the hilarity.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    1. Re:That's fine by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's as if millions of cats cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:That's fine by bobstreo · · Score: 4, Funny

      YouTube can just block all of the EU and watch the hilarity.

      I have a better idea.

      Create servers for EU IP ranges.

      Fully license and redirect every video link to a certain Rick Astley video with an announcement to contact the EU if they have any problems with copyright protection.

    3. Re:That's fine by Z80a · · Score: 1

      I don't know it can is the operative word here.
      It's probably more of a must.

    4. Re:That's fine by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      Add a video clip before all content allowed in the EU with a spoken language message that the video is approved for viewing in the EU.
      In all EU languages with text before the video begins.
      Place that before all content now allowed to be played in the EU.
      With the correct legal framework quoted in full in each EU member nation language.
      Let every EU nation enjoy its full online EU legal compliance while the rest of the free world enjoys content.
      So EU viewers know the results they have been allowed to search for is legal and contains EU approved political content.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    5. Re:That's fine by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2

      The EU would fold long before YouTube. Imagine the constant stream of hate the politicians would get,

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    6. Re:That's fine by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      The EU would fold long before YouTube. Imagine the constant stream of hate the politicians would get,

      Not a problem. The EU is working to block that too.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    7. Re: That's fine by sjames · · Score: 1

      Then as it gets started it will trip over an IP landmine and die.

    8. Re:That's fine by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      YouTube can just block all of the EU and watch the hilarity.

      As someone who wants to watch Google fail I say DO IT! Go on, DO IT.

      The funny thing about trying to block a good portion of the wealthy west is that shareholders don't think too highly of the move. Even funnier if you're an advertisement company since your actual source of revenue doesn't think highly of it either.

    9. Re: That's fine by TimMD909 · · Score: 1

      In a related story, VPN companies' stock prices should be shooting up soon.

    10. Re: That's fine by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Wtf is an EU patriot? Someone who believes that all of Europe should be under the iron fist of unelected elites? Do such people still exist? I thought we got rid of them in WW2 ...

    11. Re: That's fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is a different breed. These people learned from the US. And they want the EU to be something like the US in terms of economic and military power and independence - the United States of Europe if you will. Look at the recent political events that went down last weekend in Europe.
      There's been voices from the US that demanded Europe to become more self reliant in terms of military for a long time, Trump among them. And now, if the EU wants to do just that, it's suddenly treasonous behaviour.

    12. Re: That's fine by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      This is a different breed. These people learned from the US. And they want the EU to be something like the US in terms of economic and military power and independence - the United States of Europe if you will.

      Without elected officials and the protection of basic rights? Sounds more like they learned it from Germany or Italy.

      There's been voices from the US that demanded Europe to become more self reliant in terms of military for a long time, Trump among them. And now, if the EU wants to do just that, it's suddenly treasonous behaviour.

      No clue where you got that idea from. Who the fuck was talking about the military, let alone treason? Can you try to stick to the discussion at hand rather than bringing in random paranoid delusions?

    13. Re: That's fine by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      I assume in your country the civil servants are all elected then.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    14. Re: That's fine by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      In my country unelected civil servants don't impose laws and regulations on elected officials.

    15. Re:That's fine by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Shareholders would demand YouTube folds first. And probably fire Wojcicki for such a ridiculous gambit.

      She is just trying to scare politicians. I've read the rules, they require less than what YouTube is already doing. YouTube has it's Content ID system that filters uploads based on rightsholder claims.

      YouTube just doesn't want a legal mandate to use this filter, it prefers to negotiate from a position of strength with rightsholders over what will be allowed. Wojcicki doesn't want the balance of power shifted.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    16. Re: That's fine by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      ORLY? Pray tell me, who exactly elects the supreme court judges?

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    17. Re: That's fine by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      There are many European video platforms. But guess what, they have the same copyright problems YouTube has, maybe even more so because they can't even claim that the video is actually hosted abroad, and hence the stuff they supply is mostly useless.

      The only thing that would happen is that people either start using VPN services or switch to browsers with built-in VPN services altogether.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    18. Re:That's fine by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      The EU would be VERY dumb to do that. YouTube is basically the Cute Cat of digital activism.

      Shut down access to YouTube is the start signal for Europeans to get VPN access to VPN servers outside the EU. And as soon as this happens, the EU can as well stuff any law concerning the internet (along with their precious "anti-hate-speech" bullshit) in their pipe and smoke it, since nobody would even notice that they did.

      All that really would accomplish is that any interesting and thus profitable online resources would be found outside the EU, outside EU jurisdiction and most of all, outside of any area where the EU would get tax revenue from it.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    19. Re:That's fine by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It's funny that so many people think YouTube committing suicide is the best solution here.

      Back in the real world if they really think it's that bad they will just go to court to argue it like adults, or find some way of passing the cost on.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    20. Re: That's fine by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      The Governor General appoints them in consultation with the Prime Minister. I don't see the relevance. You seem to be confused about what the supreme court does.

    21. Re: That's fine by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Really? In every common law country a court imposes their interpretation of the laws and regulations upon everyone (contrast this with a civil law country where previous court cases can, but don't have to be considered) and a supreme court decision is final and binding. Yet the judges are appointed, not elected.

      So why exactly do you have a problem with the european commission - the only appointed body of the european union - even though it cannot actually impose any laws? Their job is roughly comparable to cabinet of ministers, about the only thing they can do with the laws and regulations is proposing new ones to the council and the parliament. Maybe you are the one who are confused?

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  2. One better by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Funny

    Block Youtube, where instead it takes you to a page where you can write an angry letter to the people responsible for YouTube being blocked.

    It would be really interesting to see what effect blocking YouTube had on a modern society. Riots? Mass adoption of VPN? Meh?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re: One better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Increased productivity...

    2. Re: One better by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Funny

      Amazingly enough, China's demands are much more reasonable and straightforward than those of the EU.

  3. Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music, streaming it for free, and making all of the copyright infringement profit for themselves.

    For some reason youtube is the only company that can outright steal everyone's stuff, and sell it all for their own profit.

    If I did that at the swap meet with burned CD's I'd go to jail.

    1. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Did you even read the summary? Even for videos licensed from the music publishers themselves YouTube is at risk of copyright suits from unknown rights holders.

    2. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You are aware that YouTube pays enormous royalty payments to the recording industry, right? Enormous to the tune of where YouTube operates at a loss. A constant claim is that their filters are too strict and regularly improperly flag content as infringing even when it isn't, and when something is flagged, the registered owner decides if it should be blocked or not. Almost everything on YouTube is there with the blessing of their owners using the monatization scheme the owners request.

      So basically, everything you said is completely false. But I'm sure you knew that, right?

    3. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure why you think your comment is news to the GP. It supports it, not undermines it.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by tepples · · Score: 1

      Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music

      Let's say I write and record a song and use it as background music for a video that I upload. But if my song is too similar to an existing song, then I unwittingly "stole" someone else's music. What steps can a composer take to stop this "theft" from happening before the upload?

    5. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

      Almost everything on YouTube is there with the blessing of their owners using the monatization scheme the owners request.

      Um, not even close. You can find most TV shows as well as most movies. When you start typing a movie name, youtube even helpfully suggests appending the words "full movie" onto the end and in most cases you can easily find the full movie of most movie on youtube.

      Youtube is a cesspool. Google is one of the leaders in AI but has made almost no attempt to clean up, categorize, or filter the stuff on Youtube.

    6. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      Utube doesn't steal stuff, they set up a bulletin board where people can post messages and posters for free. Blaming them for not being able to police everything for criminal content is unreasonable. If bank robbers use the phone system to plan their crimes you don't arrest the phone company.

    7. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Mostly because nobody involved gives a shit about copyright crap. I want to listen to music, YouTube wants to provide it. How they do it, why the fuck would I care?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    8. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The rights holders are quite happy to have their music on YouTube, as long as they get the ad revenue.

      The problem at the moment is that a lot of the music on there was uploaded by other people, and they are raking in the profits. It happens with new music and also new movie trailers a lot. The official channel releases it, others copy and re-post the video and often the top search result or trending vid is the copy.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:Or youtube can stop stealing everyone's music by Glarimore · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Considering I just went to Youtube and tried searching for "Black Panther Full Movie", "Lego Movie Full Movie", and "It Follows Full Movie", but could not find copies of any of these movies, I think it is safe to say that you are either ill-informed or a liar, or these movies you're talking about are sufficiently buried that the small proportion of people who access them shouldn't be a concern.

      And to the point in the article, Youtube can't reasonably be expected to police everything someone uploads. They already try pretty hard and the systems they do have in place end up getting abused. If you can think of a happier medium or useful technical solution, please provide it, but arguing that Youtube is purely a cesspool of copyrighted material is not only incorrect, but not overly useful to anyone.

  4. Tough by mccalli · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No-one above the law. Look at this example: "Although YouTube has agreements with multiple entities to license and pay for the video, some of the rights holders remain unknown. ".

    Yeah, that's the same with abandonware. Or even in hobbyist music I wrote which I can't release for exactly this reason. Same rules for everyone. Either campaign to remove those rules for everyone, or suck it up and comply. One or the other.

    1. Re:Tough by sl3xd · · Score: 4, Informative

      It doesn't sound like they are looking for an exemption.

      It's quite clear that YouTube is saying the proposed rules don't make sense, and shouldn't be implemented for anyone.

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    2. Re:Tough by mccalli · · Score: 1

      Rules exist today though - look at my "can't publish" example, that's real and something I tried to do in all good faith. Whereas they're arguing they already have published something like that and shouldn't be held accountable for it.

    3. Re:Tough by mccalli · · Score: 1

      Yep, I agree. It's why I have no sympathy for their attempt at moralising here.

    4. Re:Tough by jopsen · · Score: 1

      Why can't you publish your music?

    5. Re:Tough by mccalli · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Thanks for the question. It's because I can't identify all the rights holders, so cannot publish due to the risk of being sued for copyright later. I've tried - I contacted the BBC (it's a BBC programme from 1982), I contacted Getty who now administer it...everyone. They told me who might have a right and confirmed that others had rights than those I had already identified. But they couldn't tell me who, only that it would be breach of copyright to publish without identifying.

      Oh, and Getty also wanted to charge me £500 to use it, after first insisting they would only deal with corporations anyway and not individuals like me. That would be £500 for one set of rights - the BBC. They then told me I would need to individually contact the presenter who read the script, and the scriptwriter. They also couldn't identify the scriptwriter.

      Result? Impossible to publish. Financially a non-starter but let's assume for a moment it wasn't, and that I had some sure-fire hit that easily justified paying three sets of people at minimum £500 each after individually tracking down all contact details...still I couldn't publish, because I wouldn't know where the rights for the script were held. I assumed the BBC. Apparently not.

    6. Re:Tough by mccalli · · Score: 1

      I should add - this is all over some sampled speech that I use throughout the piece. Too long to be fair use, and it's the centre point of the music anyway.

    7. Re:Tough by athmanb · · Score: 1

      It's already like this for abandonware. The DMCA requires that you own the copyright of something you send a takedown for. So if nobody that owns the copyright for whatever you're sharing cares, nobody will send your ISP a nastygram.

      And if someone does care enough to send a letter, then it's not abandoned, is it.

    8. Re:Tough by s4080326 · · Score: 1

      They are saying that they should only respect the copyrights of large corporations not that of small individuals. The thing is the EU policy is really highlighting how stupid the existing copyright laws are and hopefully they will force a rewrite of copyright to something more sensible.

    9. Re:Tough by sl3xd · · Score: 1

      So you’re saying that instead of fixing something that’s broken, the EU is thoughtfully and deliberately enacting laws that are even dumber?

      That makes no sense.

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
  5. Re:Thats the idea by jellomizer · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Well just because the US and the UK decided to be really stupid, it doesn't mean that the EU is a bastion of all good intentions. The EU for Decades have been making laws that more or less target American Companies.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  6. Brussels flies up its own colon by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The EU is in the process of strangling its own economy with rules that the rest of the world would go broke trying to comply with. Enjoy your GMO-free, music-free, Internet-free existence. We will gladly honor your right to be forgotten.

    1. Re:Brussels flies up its own colon by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We will gladly honor your right to be forgotten.

      Yes you will. And you will bend over backwards to keep content coming our way while doing so. Just like companies bend over backwards to appease Chinese censors. Some markets are too big to ignore, and as often is with empty threats, those markets are usually worth far more than the cost of compliance despite the ensuing bitching and moaning.

    2. Re:Brussels flies up its own colon by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Not at all. Instead it's rediscovering the problem that USSR discovered after WW2. If you want to have a union of states that have wildly different cultural norms and standards, you must have a tyrannical universal rule set and complete lock down on information about the system and how it works.

      This is a part of the slowly creeping information lock down. Other parts range from hate speech and blasphemy legislation being interpreted increasingly widely to removal of obstacles from consolidation of ownership of mass media companies. Since they can't take the USSR way of simply nationalising everything and persecuting anyone doing the same things privately, all they can do is enacting a shaky alliance with large capital holders in relevant industries.

      This particular legislation package is basically a bastard child of those two intentions coming together. On one hand, the large holders in mass media industries are in severe decline due to liberalization of media frontier by internet companies. On the other hand, same liberalization also removes the ability to lock down the information about the system and how it works. It's not actually aimed at "the rest of the world". This is distinctly a shot aimed at multiple internal objectives. Any external impact is barely an afterthought. And considering just how critical these issues are to the primary agenda of survival of EU itself, foreign pressure is unlikely to change anything on this front.

      It will have to be done by member states themselves in the upcoming negotiations on what actual legislation package should and should not hold. Considering the current representation in two main power houses in Europe being highly unpopular but extremely pro "EU as a sovereign union of states rather than a union of sovereign states", this will likely be pushed through in some form.

      And then, the shit you're talking about will actually hit the fan.

    3. Re: Brussels flies up its own colon by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      What this really means is that Youtube how-to videos will no longer have loud and obnoxious music tracks playing during the video. That's a good thing.

    4. Re:Brussels flies up its own colon by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      The main issue was that the right holders of GMO didn't sit in the EU, but in the US.

      Then why do you luddite wackjobs rip up fields of Golden Rice, which is open source and has nothing to do with Monsanto or any other Evil Corporation?

      Please, please, be as antivax as you are anti-GMO. Then in the next big epidemic we will all be rid of you.

  7. Lies by Tailhook · · Score: 2, Insightful

    YouTube (Alphabet/Google, actually; stop kidding yourselves) — and the rest of the Valley monsters — have demonstrated that they are entirely capable of precisely moderating the content they host. They do so every day as their finely honed wrongthink detectors isolate every case of "offensive" content. So the argument that this EU requirement is some insurmountable burden is farcical. Unlike the deplorables they enthusiastically hunt down 24/7 with no complaint whatsoever about the financial feasibility, they are simply uninterested in enforcing EU copyright laws.

    Well too fucking bad. You people made yourselves the universal go-to moderators in your crusade to safe space the Internet. Content owners won't let you pretend you're not capable of applying the same facilities in service of protecting their IP.

    And this aggressive push for extreme IP polices coming from the EU should be no surprise to anyone. Consolidating power in Brussels could only amplify this rent seeking behavior. People heard the warnings of exactly this and pretended otherwise because damn all knuckle-draggers that don't want a giant all-caring all-providing European super government.

    Well, here you go motherfuckers. Enjoy.

    --
    Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
  8. So Google's going to make a smaller profit ... by Alain+Williams · · Score: 1

    that might be about right for the amount of tax that it pays. Interesting how that might happen!

  9. What about let's plays and say music rights? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    The game may have the music rights must people making the let's plays may have to do there own licensing for it.

    Just like how licensing for bars works.

    1. Re:What about let's plays and say music rights? by tepples · · Score: 1

      If game developers want their games to be advertised on youtube or streams by other people playing them, they can choose to design their games to be compliant with these laws. Show those record industry copyright Mafiosi the middle finger and don't use their licensed music in your games. A lot of game developers appear to do this already. Use public domain or make your own music

      If I choose to make my own music, what can I do to protect myself from accidentally copying someone else's music into my own music?

  10. Financially impossible? Sounds easy! by petes_PoV · · Score: 1

    This video contains multiple copyrights, ranging from sound recording to publishing rights

    So all it boils down to is that companies will have to work a bit harder to earn their billions.

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
  11. The Left eats itself. by Dishevel · · Score: 1

    The crazy EU leftists going after the power of the crazy US leftists. *Gets Popcorn*

    --
    Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    1. Re:The Left eats itself. by mcvos · · Score: 1

      It's not EU leftists who did this; many Greens oppose it, whereas most right-wing parties supported it.

      I'm unable to find a complete breakdown of who supported it and who didn't though. Support for this was appallingly broad.

    2. Re:The Left eats itself. by Dishevel · · Score: 1

      The EU IS LEFT.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    3. Re:The Left eats itself. by mcvos · · Score: 1

      Only compared to the extreme right that's currently ruling the US. On its own, the EU is moderately right-wing due to its insistence on austerity, and moderately left-wing due to its insistence on human/civil rights. How you see the regulated free market with a very strong focus on competition, could go either way.

  12. Well no. IP comes mostly from the US or big corp by aepervius · · Score: 1

    When I look at most music, movies, it is mostly coming from corporations which anyway will comply and be able to upload stuff in youtube : What IP is not coming from the US, is coming from the big corp, even the "pew die pie" of Europe are incorporated and will only have that as a nuisance cost. There is nigh an indy scene in EU which really participate that much in the economy globally. In other word, the ONLY people it may stops, are the average folk uploading a video they made themselves - economic value being very low - OK maybe a few web cam and microphone equipment. Basically the economy will not suffer a iota.

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  13. Wouldn't it all be so much easier... by mr_jrt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...if copyrights only lasted a sane amount of time, say, 10 years or so, with a couple of optional 10 year extensions. Then the long tail of potential rights holders in a given work would dramatically reduce, making systems such as this much more feasible to manage.

    --
    Boo.
    1. Re:Wouldn't it all be so much easier... by toejam13 · · Score: 1

      Why have a cap on extensions? Place a price on extensions that goes up significantly with each additional extension. If the cost is worth it to the rights holder, let them pay it.

    2. Re:Wouldn't it all be so much easier... by houghi · · Score: 1

      Well, it used to be 14 years. Then they extended it a bit and then a bit mre and then even more. So now it is "Till hell freezes over".

      Giving them 10 years will result in extentions and exceptions and will end in "till hell freezes over".

      So the best thing would be to forbid copyrights altogether. We have tried it and it didn't work. No reason to try it again. They have shown they have no restrain.

      So get rid of all copyrights (and patents, while we are at it). And trademarks ONLY for company logo's and names. Not for design and color. ... because fuck em. They broke enough already. And if they moan, fuck em harder. It means they like it.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    3. Re:Wouldn't it all be so much easier... by redmasq · · Score: 1

      Copyright and patents are still useful, but the timeframe is just purely rent-seeking. How about $10 dollars to register either for 2 years, double the previous for each 1 year extension. $10, $20, $40, $80, etc. The first few years will be cheap and a common citizen could get a foothold. Someone successful could even continue the monopoly for a few extra years. After a while, even a company such as Apple with unruly amounts of capital would give up and allow it to be public domain.

      I agree for the trademarks, but would advice that it only applies to the context of use as a trademark. Trademarking a certain mouse would not prevent the character of that mouse from being used in a fictional work if not meant to represent the company.

      I am not so concerned with the presence of copyright since it would be one of the few things keeping my modest work from simply being ripped off by someone with more marketing skills than I before I can even attempt to do something. I am, however, concerned with the blatant abuse. If someone is using one of my random utilities or hanging a print of one of my ugly renders on the wall 20 years from now, I would have had a chance to market it. 100 years of rent-seeking, it only encourages people to rest upon their laurels while speeding up inflation by creating undue artificial scarcity.

  14. It's probably fair use regardless, transformative by raymorris · · Score: 3, Informative

    > Too long to be fair use, and it's the centre point of the music anyway.

    You're thinking of one type fair use. If you're writing a research paper, you can use a short section from another research paper. "A short section" is only ONE of several types of fair use though.

    Two other fair use elements are "transformative" and, most importantly, market for the original work. If you made a rave song, using sampled audio from a newscast, that's probably okay because it's completely transformative. You can use the ENTIRE original work and it can still be fair use. See Kelly vs Arriba and other cases.

    Another element, probably the most important, is the effect of your use on the market value of the original work. Will people buy your song INSTEAD OF buying the TV show? If not, that has two effects:
    It makes it probably fair use.
    It means actual damages* would be $0 anyway, so it doesn't *matter* if it's infringing.

    If your song parodies or comments on the show, if it says something about contemporary culture as exemplified by the show, that may be fair use.

    There are many factors to consider for fair use. If the show was a stand-up comedy skit and you used most of it to make a comedy song, that would probably infringe. I'd bet that you're aong is transformative enough that it doesn't compete with the prior work or damage its market value, though.

    * Statutory damages are a thing. I won't go into that here.

  15. Backwards by raymorris · · Score: 2

    See for example Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, 510 U.S. 569 (1994) regarding transformative fair use. Also many earlier rulings.
    http://www.law.cornell.edu/sup...

    There is a big difference between criticism and parody in fair use law. One can criticize something without copying it. Parody by it's very nature requires the characteristic elements of the work. Therefore, a criticism does not necessarily have a fair reason to copy; a parody does because the parody cannot exist without copying.

  16. Innovative by jezwel · · Score: 1
    This will lead to a database of copyrighted works that can be automatically attributed based on a scan of newly uploaded content.

    If there is no match to existing works, the new content becomes part of the copyright database with the uploader as the defacto copyright holder, transferable if needed.

    If a copyright owner disputes ownership of content they will need to upload their own content to potentially replace whatever was flagged as the original, which will propagate the change down to all related work, and update any monetisation chains in the process.

    Failure to upload original content would cancel any changes.

    1. Re:Innovative by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's not how copyright works. The copyright exists the moment the work is created, not when it's uploaded to some database. In your example, how would the original owner prove they were the one who created it?

      Copyright also covers works that are substantially different from the original. Your database would have a lot of trouble with photos, remixes or other imperfect reproductions of the original work. If someone draws an unauthorized Mickey Mouse comic, how are you going to find a match against those 100-year old cartoons?

  17. Classic politican by sebrk · · Score: 1

    This is what happens when we have "democracy" which attracts strebers and suckups instead of talent.

  18. It won't work by Sqreater · · Score: 1

    Consider the complexity illustrated in this article. This is just part of what I call the coming "complexity collapse." It is inevitable as governments, businesses, and technology continue to add more and more rules, regulations, laws, procedures, devices, patches, processes, obligations, etc.

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.