Copyrights – Why YouTube Takes Down Your Demo, Leaves Up Pirated Content – And What You Can Do About It, by David H. Lawrence XVII
BUSINESS: COPYRIGHTS
Why YouTube Takes Down Your
Demo, Leaves Up Pirated Content
… And What You Can Do About It
February 5, 2016
by David H. Lawrence XVII
Voice Actor & Coach
VO2GoGo.com
Since
Napster gave the world a taste of easy, media-hyped piracy, a
generation of users has felt no need to respect intellectual property
rights.
Google’s video site, YouTube (or as some pronounce it, YOU
chube), has gone to great lengths to make sure its producer partners are
protected from unauthorized performance of their works.
Sometimes,
though, your acting reels will get caught in the middle, even though
you’re perfectly allowed to use your scenes from copyrighted works in
your acting reels.
And sometimes YOUR intellectual property is being pirated and illegally shown on YouTube.
Here’s how this happens, and how to remedy each situation.
You’ve worked hard on your demo
reel, following all of the tips and techniques we’ve discussed in the
ActingAnswers.com article on the topic of world class reel production.
Everything’s set – you’re about to let the world know about it, and you
open your email inbox to find a takedown notice from YouTube.
What?
The notice I got when I put my demo reel up on YouTube read:
Your video has been identified and removed from public display on YouTube
because you may not have the necessary permission to make it available
on YouTube. The material identified in your video, the person claiming
ownership of the material, and the policy they have designated for its
use on YouTube are detailed below.
- Material Copyright Holder Policy Countries
- Video from CBS Internet Rights Reserved
You have the following options:
- Do Nothing Your video will continue to be hidden from YouTube viewers.
- Dispute Claim If
you believe that the video at issue is your original content, has been
misidentified by our systems, or that you are otherwise authorized to
use it without consent, you can file a dispute claim.
That’s pretty
ominous, and is enough to scare an actor into leaving well enough alone
and just use the video on their own website, hoping the powers that be
at CBS don’t find them.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
You should know your rights, and act
accordingly.
You have the right, under the Fair Use tests in the US
Copyright Code, to use clips from your work in your reel, without having
to secure any permission from the networks or studios you do your work
for.
So how does YouTube even know I did The Unit (it’s one of
the scenes in my reel)?
Because YouTube has had so many problems with
people knowingly and unknowingly posting videos that contain copyrighted
works, they’ve worked with producers like the networks and studios that
release films theatrically (your customers) to develop software that
looks for signatures in works registered with YouTube.
WHAT HAPPENS …
For example, in the case of a video involving episodes of television and copies of films, the producer sends the works to YouTube, which stores them in a database.
Then, when
videos get posted by YouTube users, the video and audio are both scanned
for the same content in the works in their database. When they find a
match, the authorities are alerted and the notices get sent out.
YouTube
shoots first and asks questions later, removing the potentially
offending videos from public view.
Most of the time, if someone is
putting up copy of copyrighted works, this is perfectly normal and we
should all be glad that YouTube is helping to defend the rights of the
owners of copyrighted works.
YOU AREN’T THE BAD GUY!
But your use of a scene or two from your
episode of a television show or a movie can be a temporary casualty of
this war against piracy.
You aren’t the bad guy here. You’re a
party to the production of the piece, and your use of the scenes you are
in pass all four of the Copyright Act’s fair use tests (Section 107 of
Title 17 of the US Code):
1.The
purpose and character of your use of the copyrighted work must advance
knowledge or the progress of arts, or be for non-profit or educational
use. You are demonstrating your participation in the work, so this is
covered.
2. The
nature of the copied work must have certain values which are judged on a
case by case basis, none of which you are even close to when using it
in your performance demo.
3. The
“amount and substantiality” of the work is clear – you’re only using a
small amount of the work (since your demo should only be a minute or two
long, you’ll need to use just seconds of the scene you’re in), and that
passes the test that you’re not simply re-publishing the entire episode
or film.
4.The
final test is whether or not your use of a piece of the copyrighted
content could negatively affect the work’s value in the marketplace. You
pass this, as you’re not selling or offering your demo as a replacement
for any of the shows you use in it.
HOW TO REMEDY
Thankfully, YouTube is also
on your side in this case, and you can easily remedy the situation.
Remember the option above in the ominous letter that offers you the
opportunity to “Dispute Claim”? That’s exactly what you do, dispute the
claim. YouTube even offers you a simple link to click on that takes you
the “Dispute Claim” form on their website.
All you have to do
when you get to that page is to fill out the form, and tell YouTube why
you shouldn’t be subject to their takedown decision.
COPY THIS EXAMPLE
Here’s some
language you can copy and paste from right into the “Reason
for Dispute” or “Dispute Explanation” text box on YouTube:
I
am an actor. The video in question is a compilation of different scenes
in which I am featured. This video does not violate US Copyright code,
as it passes all four tests for fair use under Section 107 of Title 17
of the US Code. Please restore the video to public view. Thank you.
You
may never hear from YouTube on issues like this, especially if a human
being intercepts the takedown notice to you and looks at your video. But
now you know what to do should you be tapped for copyright
infringement.
But what happens when you’re on the other end of the equation: YOUR
intellectual property is being pirated, and nothing seems to be done
about it?
It happened recently to a client of mine, voice actor and audiobook narrator Tracy Elman. (For details, please see Stop, Thief! My Audiobooks Were Copied And Posted On YouTube. What To Do.)
To remedy this, simply notify YouTube, just like CBS did in the above example.
If it’s your property, and someone’s pirating it, just use the Report menu item on any video you feel is in violation.
In the Report dialog box, there’s a choice for Infringes my Rights, and a sub menu choice for Infringes my Copyright.
You’ll be given an explanation box at some point in the process. Here’s what to write:
This
video/channel/playlist (pick one) is showing intellectual property that
does not belong to them, it belongs to me. Here’s the original:(link to your original). Please remove this from the system.
And that’s it! Watch for YouTube to take action.
——————–
ABOUT DAVID
After a 30 year
career in radio, David H. Lawrence XVII moved to television, and has
been seen on ABC’s epic series LOST, CBS’ legendary CSI, The Mentalist
and military thriller The Unit, NBC’s spy comedy Chuck, Good Luck
Charlie and ANT Farm on Disney, Touch and The Finder on FOX, and is best
known as the creepy evil puppet master Eric Doyle on NBC’s smash hit
Heroes. His film career includes on-camera and VO work on Men in Black
III, Pizza Man, The Changeling, The Hulk, Iron Man, Percy Jackson,
Unstoppable, Too Big to Fail, A Special Relationship and countless
others. Lawrence
also helps actors create voice over careers with his award winning
VO2GoGo voice consultancy, and has been BACK STAGE’s Readers’ Choice for
Favorite VO Teacher and Favorite VO Demo Producer for four years in a
row. He also teaches regular VO classes monthly in Los Angeles and
online, and voicework workshops at various studios around Los Angeles. He has also voiced over 100 audiobooks, and teaches specialized courses in
audiobook production, with a concentration on ACX and Audible work, and
teaches the ACX Master Class.
Email: davidlawrence@gmail.com
Web (acting): http://davidhlawrencexvii.com
Web (voice over coaching): http://vo2gogo.com
Web (ACX Master Class – new class registration deadline is 9 pm tonight, February 5, 2016): http://acxmasterclass.com