YouTube DMCA Chutzpah? Sorry, Viacom Also Entitled to Play Fair Use Game
Big, bad corporate villian Viacom against innocent “friends and family” video guy, with good corporate friend YouTube stuck in the middle? NO.
Contrary to conventional Viacom is always the bad guy wisdom, the “fair use” game is not a clear cut one, no matter the circumstances. MOREOVER, everyone is entitled to play along, INCLUDING VIACOM.
While the blogosphere troops rally in typical lock-step fashion to restate Chris Knight’s case against Vicaom’s purported YouTube “chutzpah” against his alleged copyright infringement at YouTube, Viacom has stated why its fair use case is a fair one.
(Knight turns to a “Yiddish word,” chutzpah,” to accuse Viacom of “unbelievable gall or audiacity;” Perhaps that is why he deems himself to be a “renegade Christian thinker.”)
Despite Knight’s drama, though, and the blogosphere’s glee in believing it has caught Viacom with its hypocritical copyright pants down, Viacom has thrown cold (boring) water on the Knight plea for fair use fairness.
Knight’s “hometown paper,” News & Record, cites Viacom on the matter:
What’s the difference between VH1 using Knight’s commercial and Knight using VH1’s clip?
“The VH1 depiction was part commentary and edited,” said Jeremy Zweig, Viacom. But Knight’s version, an unedited copy, was illegal. “If he had transformed the clip in some way it would’ve been helpful,” Zweig said, “Or if he just linked to our Web site, that would be appropriate.”
YES, the fair use game is open to all players, even corporate ones.
Amanda Martin, a Raleigh attorney and First Amendment “expert,” is also cited:
There’s no clear-cut rule on what is and isn’t fair use of other people’s works in productions, but there are several considerations.
Republication with commentary and editing — such as VH1’s work — seems OK, she said, while Knight’s verbatim rebroadcast of the show doesn’t appear to be protected by law.
Is Knight the one with the YouTube chutzpah after all? Perhaps, for creating a public drama out of a shaky legal argument.
READ MORE FAIR USE INSIDER CHATTER: YouTube License To Steal, and Humiliate: ‘Fair Use IS a Bitch’ AND Viacom, NBC Fight For Paid Content Rights
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