![]() The purpose of the reaction videos was to criticize and even ridicule The Verge's original video. The purpose of the original Verge video was to instruct people about how to build a PC. ![]() Probably the most important is that the reaction videos are "transformative"-that is, they create a new work whose character and purpose are different from the original. She said that several factors weigh in favor of a fair use finding. We asked Betsy Rosenblatt, a copyright expert at Whittier Law School, to walk us through the legal standards that apply for videos like these. Unfortunately, the rules have always been somewhat nebulous, and they've only gotten murkier in the Internet age. The legal concept of fair use allows people to use other people's copyrighted works for purposes of comment and criticism, provided that certain conditions are met. Fair use law is murky-especially on YouTube "I fully agree with our legal team that these videos crossed the line of fair use," he wrote. Still, Patel said The Verge's lawyers were on solid legal ground. Patel says that at his request, The Verge asked YouTube to retract the strikes against the two videos. "When this was brought to my attention a few hours later, I told them that although I fully agreed with their legal argument, I did not think we should use copyright strikes against legitimate channels," Patel wrote in a Friday post. When he learned of the decision, he says, he requested that the strikes be retracted. Patel says he wasn't involved in the initial decision to issue the copyright strikes. Prominent YouTubers posted reaction videos showing clips of Etienne's instructions interspersed with their own incredulous commentary.Īmong other problems, critics argued Etienne wore an anti-static bracelet without attaching it to anything, did not put his graphics card and memory chips in the best slots, and put way too much thermal paste on his CPU.įurther Reading This lawsuit against a Cosby rape documentary is why fair use exists The video soon became an object of ridicule among seasoned PC builders. The original Verge video was posted last September alongside an article titled "How to build a custom PC for gaming, editing, or coding." It featured Verge reporter Stefan Etienne assembling a PC by installing a CPU, graphics card, power supply, and other hardware into a tower-style case. The Internet mocked The Verge's error-ridden video But the one legal precedent I was able to find suggests the opposite: that this kind of video is solidly within the bounds of copyright's fair use doctrine. It's hard to be sure if this is true since there are very few precedents in this area of the law. Still, Patel defended the lawyers' legal reasoning, arguing that the videos "crossed the line" into copyright infringement. Verge editor Nilay Patel (who, full disclosure, was briefly a colleague of mine at The Verge's sister publication Vox.com), says that when he learned about the decision, he asked that the strike be rescinded, leading to the videos being reinstated. "Vox Media's legal team did this independently and informed us of it after the fact." ![]() "The Verge's editorial structure was involved zero percent in the decision to issue a strike," Sottek said in a direct message. Sottek, the Verge's managing editor, blamed lawyers at the Verge's parent company, Vox Media, for the decision. Each takedown came with a copyright "strike." It was a big deal for the creators of the videos, because three "strikes" in a 90-day period are enough to get a YouTuber permanently banned from the platform. Last week, The Verge got a reminder about the power of the Streisand effect after its lawyers issued copyright takedown requests for two YouTube videos that criticized-and heavily excerpted-a video by The Verge.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |