YouTube News 150+ Copyright Claims Against YT Creator Covering Anime

[MattCommand1]

So, this is a pretty scary issue I read about. Here are a couple of articles but there are many more published if you do a Google search.

Dragon Ball Studio Sparks Rage After Popular YouTuber Gets Slammed with Copyright Claims

Youtube is one of the go-to destinations for streaming online, and it has amassed billions of [...]

comicbook.com

Anime YouTuber 'Totally Not Mark' loses 150+ videos after Toei Animation copyright claim, Twitter enraged

Popular anime YouTuber Mark Fitzpatrick uploaded a video serving as an open letter to YouTube and Toei Animation.

www.sportskeeda.com

An anime copyright owner has hit a YT Creator (Mark Fitzpatrick) covering anime topics (Totally Not Mark) with 150+ copyright claim within a few days causing chaos and stress and massive disappearance of his content. He released a copy of emotional, tearful videos explaining the situation that was painful to watch because he was genuinely in anguish, pain, and stress. Unfortunately, he took them down which explained the full story from his perspective. So we are now reliant on articles for those who did not see those two videos which had massive numbers of views and cause widespread outrage by his supporters.

All that is left is a black "good-bye" video for 2021. I cannot imagine having 150 videos being taken down. He claims it was 3-years of work by him and his team. Apparently, as he explains it, Japan has very different copyright laws than the most of the Western world. There is no such thing as "fair use".

He explained that via the YT appeal system, he can only fight a couple of videos at any given time and each fight takes a couple months. Taking it out to 150 videos, it would take years to fight to get them back. And as he explains it, if he "lost" a claim, he would then incur a strike.

So, it seems, the guy has thrown in the towel for now to reassess his channel's future.

The one takeaway is to stay away from any IP from Japan. They don't have "fair use" provisions despite the fact that he is based in Europe with viewers mostly from the US and the UK.

BEWARE and learn from this.

 

[Rise Of Jay Cee]

This goes to show how broken YouTube copyright system are. If I am not mistaken, you can hit someone else videos with a copyright strike with little to no evidence. YouTube really need a competitor but sadly it will never happen since it too big to be beaten.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

I've heard this before... Nintendo used to do this a lot as well. It isn't fair to get totally mad at them for doing this though. While I feel for this creator and the work he put into what he did the fact remains; he did not follow the rules. It really sucks but this happens all the time and people want to blame YouTube but the only thing they are doing is upholding the law in this circumstance.

It's a cliche response these days but seriously; if someone used your video to make millions of dollars and you did not get a dime wouldn't you be upset to?

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

@mattcommand1 thank you for an enlightening article sir! More people need to understand this sort of stuff.

 

[Tito Tim]

I am unfamiliar with the channel - was he posting reviews & discussions, or full episodes for streaming? If he is doing reviews, most of us would see it as fair use. Apparently Japan views it differently. I would think a company would appreciate someone promoting their product... as long as they do not post 'too much' of the content (how much is too much?). I have seen a lot of review channels only using content that was released in trailers, by the studio, and even using that sparingly. And I have no idea how that would be viewed by Japanese law.

It sounds like he ran afoul of Japanese law, and this will be a lost cause. Unless he can negotiate something with the anime company.

 

[DebuJalanan]

His team work on one video per week, so yes 150 videos mean 3 years of work.
Youtube can't be blamed for removing his videos. They have to follow Japan's rules, otherwise they would be banned there.

 

[Amanda Summers]

It sounds like he ran afoul of Japanese law, and this will be a lost cause. Unless he can negotiate something with the anime company.

I think this is a great idea. Offer the offended company a percentage and a sincere apology.

 

[Damon]

This is why I say make 100% original content. If someone else owns that brand, you have no right or privileged to use it as you want. It isn't your character(s), universe or franchise. Invent your own characters. Make your own universe. Build your own franchise. 100% originality is the only sure way to avoid copyright claims.

You can't blame YouTube, or claim their system is broken when you take someone else's universe, make millions, then cry when they shut you down. That's a harsh statement, but that's reality. If you don't own 100% of the content, brand, then don't use it. Create your own. That's what creators are supposed to do.

 

[Super Cooper Hobbies]

I'm confused as to what exactly he was making videos about? Was he just doing reviews and talking about them? Like, I can understand if he was showing footage from shows or books, but just talking about them, how is that bad?

Is this something that we should be worrying about in terms of if you do review style videos?

 

[Damon]

I'm confused as to what exactly he was making videos about?

I'm not sure about the specific videos in question, but the his channel looks to be an anime review channel. In summary the first article says it best:

As noted in Japanese law, authors and copyright holders can "preserve the integrity of their work and its title" against almost anything they take offense to.

Is this something that we should be worrying about in terms of if you do review style videos?

Yes, anytime you don't own 100% of the intellectual property you produce, you're vulnerable. Yes, in the United States, we would call this fair use, but in Japan there is no fair use clause in their copyright law. Again the owner of the brand, franchise universe and intellectual property gets to decide what can be done with their brand image and likeness, not anyone else. Some companies are benevolent and encourage fandom. Some aren't. At any rate, if you don't own 100% of your content, then you are vulnerable.

Frankly, YouTube doesn't want to get involved in the legal mess. It's impossible to expect they can implement copyright law in every country on earth, as every country has different laws. So, they let the intellectual property owners and the creators making content off that property duke it out in and amongst themselves.

 

[Tito Tim]

Frankly, YouTube doesn't want to get involved in the legal mess. It's impossible to expect they can implement copyright law in every country on earth, as every country has different laws. So, they let the intellectual property owners and the creators making content off that property duke it out in and amongst themselves.

That is the key right there. YT will not get involved, it would be a waste of their time. If someone claims a vid, it is faster and more efficient to just go with revenue sharing, or a strike.

 

[Super Cooper Hobbies]

PLEASE SUBSCIRBE..
THANK YOU

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpEZjq5QaCfwvYt_vpp8eUg

No man, thats not the way to go. One, thats spam which isn't going to get you anywhere. Two, even if I were to subscribe, that doesn't mean that I'm going to watch your videos. You need to grow organically and the viewers you gain that way are the viewers that will actually care. Three, you shouldn't be focussing on subscribers alone. You could have thousands of subscribes, but if none of them actually watched your videos, they would mean nothing. You should be focussing on making quality videos that will actually gain subscribers for you.

In short, asking people to subscribe like that won't get you anywhere.

 

[Super Cooper Hobbies]

I'm not sure about the specific videos in question, but the his channel looks to be an anime review channel. In summary the first article says it best:





Yes, anytime you don't own 100% of the intellectual property you produce, you're vulnerable. Yes, in the United States, we would call this fair use, but in Japan there is no fair use clause in their copyright law. Again the owner of the brand, franchise universe and intellectual property gets to decide what can be done with their brand image and likeness, not anyone else. Some companies are benevolent and encourage fandom. Some aren't. At any rate, if you don't own 100% of your content, then you are vulnerable.

Frankly, YouTube doesn't want to get involved in the legal mess. It's impossible to expect they can implement copyright law in every country on earth, as every country has different laws. So, they let the intellectual property owners and the creators making content off that property duke it out in and amongst themselves.

So basically, if I'm doing a book review video, that falls under fair use meaning that technically, someone could copyright claim me on that?

 

[Tito Tim]

So basically, if I'm doing a book review video, that falls under fair use meaning that technically, someone could copyright claim me on that?

The text and spoken word are copyrighted, but music and video seem to be much more stringent. Just talking about a book should not be a problem. "I like/dislike this book because..." does not violate copyright. Posting an audiobook, or reading the book online would be. It seems like that is why so many movie review channels only show bits & pieces of the trailer during their review, not the movie/show in general. Their content is the review, not so much the movie clips. Reviewing a book is fine. Posting the book is not.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

The real problem here though is the system. You are absolutely right; this is a totally perfect example of Fair Use. But because they need an automated system and because YouTube is so hamstrung by the way the laws are enforced anyone can make a claim/strike against a video and it is the OP who must prove that it is Fair Use in order to regain the rights of their own content.

 

[Super Cooper Hobbies]

The text and spoken word are copyrighted, but music and video seem to be much more stringent. Just talking about a book should not be a problem. "I like/dislike this book because..." does not violate copyright. Posting an audiobook, or reading the book online would be. It seems like that is why so many movie review channels only show bits & pieces of the trailer during their review, not the movie/show in general. Their content is the review, not so much the movie clips. Reviewing a book is fine. Posting the book is not.

Thats a good clarification right there. I don't tend to read much out of the book, I like to summarize it in my own words anyway, so luckily, I seem like I'm pretty good there.


But what the company did there seems counterintuitive. That guy had built up a whole fan base built around their content and was promoting it. They basically shut down a bunch of free promotion and fans. Seems kinda dumb if you ask me.

 

[Tito Tim]

But what the company did there seems counterintuitive. That guy had built up a whole fan base built around their content and was promoting it. They basically shut down a bunch of free promotion and fans. Seems kinda dumb if you ask me.

I agree - but it is not up to us... That is why I am glad I make all my own content. The only issues I ever have is music in the background, and I have learned to edit around that pretty well.

 

[MattCommand1]

The original story I posted ends well albeit a fairly long resolution. Youtube restored his 150 videos. From what I gather, "Totally Not Mark" story got traction in so many places, it got YT's attention to step in.

YouTuber Hit With Ungodly Number Of Anime Copyright Strikes Gets A Win For Everyone

The Toei and Totally Not Mark fight sparked a new fair use rule on the video platform

kotaku.com

A new rule has been sent to allow for multiple jurisdictions regarding copyright complaints. Unlike Japan, most western countries support and embrace"fair use". And YT is now helping make that distinction. It was a crappy deal that "Totally Not Mark" went through but his win benefits the rest of us against those who would abuse the copyright system.

The new YouTube rule allows for flexibility among international copyright laws where a video may be taken down in one country but left up in another, freeing creators from worrying about outright bans or takedowns of videos. In practice, this means videos are more likely to remain up in countries like the U.S. with stronger fair use allowances.

 

[The Jungle Explorer]

Let me just state here that I am not a lawyer. But I participate in another forum where I speak directly with copyright lawyers about such issues all the time. The TL.DR version is, there is no such thing as "Fair Use". It does not matter what YouTube says, or anyone else says about the subject, if you did not create it and it is not officially in the Public Domain, you will be taking a risk if you use the content. This is one reason I create 100% of my own content, with the exception of background music that I use from the YT free audio library. I am working on recording my own music as well, so I will not even use that eventually.

I see so much content on popular YT channels that those channels did not create, and it seems inconceivable that they procured written contracts from the actual creators to use their content. Take channels like, Fail Army, Try Not To Laugh, and Daily Dose of Internet, for example. These channels use nothing but other people's content from all around the world. Did they track down the owner of that dashcam video of a car wreck somewhere in the former Soviet Union to get their consent to use their footage? I doubt it. To even find out who owns it would take CIA-level research. But what happens when the person who actually owns that video decided they want a piece of the pie these big channels are making? All it takes is one good lawyer.

The best thing to do is create all of your own original content. Not doing so can make you a lot of money, but with that money comes a lot of risk.

 

[Damon]

Yeah, I record all my own music. That's the whole reason I got back into music.