Copyright & Ads on YouTube

Gavin Scott · Sat 24 Mar, 2012 09.30

I'm hacked off.

I upload all kinds of content onto YouTube, the vast majority of which isn't mine, even though I may have topped & tailed clips, added graphics or made clever little edits and so on.

Over the last month or two I've been receiving notifications that some media company has staked their claim on the content, and have decided to leave the clips in place but monetise them with ads.

Direct Digital Bollore (for example) have stated that they own the content in clips of America's Next Top Model. Having researched around, I think at best this is a European company who may distribute the show on the continent - certainly not the US or UK and they don't have any fingers in the production of the show.

I denied the option to monetise the clips when I uploaded them, and when some views topped 1 million YouTube was constantly sending me emails suggesting I start to coin it in. But I knew the material wasn't mine and thought it better not to in case all my clips were removed and I'd have to start again. Also - no one likes to have to click away the ads, and that includes me.

Is there any way for me to challenge their assertion of rights ownership - or is that likely to have been well-established? Or should I just delete the files? Or just get over it?

Gah.

Pete · Sat 24 Mar, 2012 17.39

email Tyra. Then at least you'll get TYYYYRRAAAMAAILLLL

Ahem.

Gavin Scott · Sat 24 Mar, 2012 18.42

*squeal*

Anyway, no. She prefers to chat by Facebook message thankyouverymuch.

Its sort of a generic enquiry anyway - how come there is a process for claiming your stake on copyright on a clip, but not a method to deny someone else's copyright claim?

bilky asko · Sat 24 Mar, 2012 19.47

Gavin Scott wrote:*squeal*

Anyway, no. She prefers to chat by Facebook message thankyouverymuch.

Its sort of a generic enquiry anyway - how come there is a process for claiming your stake on copyright on a clip, but not a method to deny someone else's copyright claim?

Another party would have to counter-claim.

Gavin Scott · Sat 24 Mar, 2012 22.13

Yes, you can counter-claim.

You have to file supporting evidence though, which I assume you don't have. If you're uploading copyright content then I'd be thankful they're going to leave it in place with an ad as opposed to taking it off YouTube and putting 'strikes' on your account.

I just replied to the post previous to yours (now deleted) - for some reason I didn't spot this reply.

I'm actually prepared to pull the particular clips rather than have this scenario continue. They're only little edits of old episodes, so I'm less bothered about losing the content. On principle I am NOT going to sit back and be thankful that some random is monetising clips that i had never chosen to do. How many people are doing that, I wonder.

Some bastard is getting very rich I expect.

What I'd like to know is the nature of supporting evidence this company have furnished - because if its as flimsy as I imagine, there's nothing to stop me from re-uploading from the master files incorporating my own "evidence".

Gavin Scott · Thu 29 Mar, 2012 11.08

Damn - another one today...

Your video "America's Next Top Model 8 - Episode 3 - Judging", may have content that is owned or licensed by Direct Digital Bollore, but it’s still available on YouTube! In some cases, ads may appear next to it.

This claim is not penalising your account status. Visit your Copyright Notices page for more details on the policy applied to your video.

Yours sincerely,
- The YouTube Team

"May"? If there's any doubt, they should give the money to me or not advertise on it at all.

Gah.

Gavin Scott · Thu 29 Mar, 2012 11.10

But wait - I had already marked this video as private - how can someone make a claim against a video they cannot see?

Something very fishy is going on here.

Bail · Thu 29 Mar, 2012 14.02

Google/Youtube automatically tags and spots"copyright" content in the audio stream, in much the same way shazam works, it could be that your videos audio track is what got it spotted?

Gavin Scott · Thu 29 Mar, 2012 17.51

Well, no, I don't think so. The incidental music (which I love, by the way) is some vague library - I've heard it used occasionally on Top Gear (of all things); and in fact I asked the sound recordist (who's on my facebook - a lovely chap) but he doesn't know the name of it.

Not the kind of thing that YouTube would easily be able to identify, I'll wager.

I wonder if there's something dodgy afoot with this media company staking a claim. Could it be owned by google... hmm...?

lukey · Thu 29 Mar, 2012 19.33

Part of YouTube's 'Content ID' system includes video recognition, where similarly videos can be matched on their 'fingerprint'. It's part of the reason some sensitive videos are uploaded flipped, not that I'm sure that's particularly effective. This is something Google do then match up to whoever has the rights in different countries, so I don't think the visibility of the video is a facftor.

bilky asko · Fri 30 Mar, 2012 19.34

Hence why one of my videos I've made private is banned in every country bar about 6.