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How to Counterclaim DMCAs/Copyright Strikes

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 22:42:05 +0000

I am not attorney and cannot and will not provide legal advice. I am not legally responsible for any advice you take from this article.

A Copyright claim, or more commonly known as a DMCA, is the single biggest issue most YouTubers face. A DMCA is when an individual or a corporation files a take down request with YouTube claiming that your video(s) have infringed their copyrights. YouTube, by law, has to take down (disable) the video immediately after receiving this request and you’ll receive a copyright strike.

More often than not, a YouTuber did infringe on someone’s copyright (ie uploaded a music video, show, movie, etc). However, many YouTubers do experience what is known as a false DMCA. This is where someone wrongfully and illegally files a DMCA even though your video doesn’t have copyright infringement.

What many YouTubers fail to realize is that you CAN counterclaim the DMCA. Why should you? A successful counterclaim will both enable your video and remove the copyright strike. Getting the copyright strike remove will put your account back in good standing which increases your chances of partnership down the road.

When should you counterclaim?

You should counterclaim when you know for a fact you haven’t infringe anyone’s copyrights. May it be entirely your own content or the content falls under fair use.

What is Fair Use?

Fair Use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship.

What are some common false DMCAs & what can I counterclaim?

-Your video is mistaken for copyrighted content base on your thumbnail. Partners have the ability to use custom thumbnails. Sometimes these thumbnails are screen shots of footage or an event and used to attract more viewers to the video. Thumbnails CANNOT infringe on copyrights, because they fall under fair use.

-Your video is mistaken for copyrighted content base on your video title. No matter what the title of your video is, it CANNOT infringe on someone’s copyrights. This is the case for even “misleading” video titles.

-Your video is a parody (ie music video parody, dubbed over footage). Sometimes it seems a corporation will disapprove of a parody and will file a false DMCA. In this case, you should file a counter claim appropriately stating that either it’s entirely your own content or that the content falls under fair use.

-Your video contains copyrighted music. In some cases you can counterclaim with fair use. Most common examples of fair use of music are dance videos and covers.

-Your video contains copyrighted footage/content while you are giving commentary. The most notable examples are video games and movie reviews. As long as you are giving commentary you are protected under fair use.

-Your video contains footage that is publicly release (such as a trailer) that is 30 seconds or shorter. Fair use allows for you to use small snippets of publicly released content, often promotion content, even though there is no commentary.

How do I file a counterclaim?

The most preferred way to counterclaim a DMCA is through the use of an online submission forum found here. There it will take you step by step on filing your counterclaim. You will have to give your personal information such as full name and address. Why? Because as soon as you file a counter claim it becomes a legal matter and you will have to give legal statements. Misrepresenting any information is illegal and will result in the termination of your account.

How does a counterclaim take?

First YouTube reviews the claim, sends it to the third party that filed the DMCA, and informs you via email that it has been sent. As soon as you receive that email, the DMCA claim holder has, by law, 10-14 days to respond. Failure to respond will result in the automatic enabling of your video and removal of the copyright strike.

What if my counterclaim is unsuccessful?

At this point you need to provided more adequate proof that the video is entirely your content or falls under fair use, or you may indeed be infringing someone’s copyright.

New Subscription Bar Doing More Harm than Good?

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:59:06 +0000

Last week, YouTube introduced a new feature that is known to many as the “subscriptions bar”. This new feature is supposed to make viewing your subscriptions’ videos much easier, but it may very well be doing more harm than good.

The subscription bar sits at the bottom of the page, and pops up whenever you move your mouse over it. There you can see an additional seven videos from you subscriptions that you can choose to play next. This makes it more convenient than having to click back to the homepage.

Another nifty function is the tab “Your subscriptions”. Which allows you to choose from three additional options, “Clear all videos from your Queue”, “Show your Queue”, and “Show Your Subscriptions”. All of which are self-explanatory.

There is, however, a major flaw with the new feature. Autoplay is great for most situations such as listening music on your iPod, but it’s horrible for YouTube videos. The autoplay function will interrupt you while typing a comment and force you to watch the next video. Not only is this an annoyance, but also it does damage to YouTubers’ videos such as myself.

I’ve personally noticed a sharp incline in the number of comments my new videos receive right after this feature was release. Now this wouldn’t be so much a problem if the autoplay option always started on “Off”, or that you could actually save your autoplay options. However, YouTube subscriptions bar fails to save any options as it resets the next time you click a subscription’s new video on the homepage.

Unlike most of YouTube’s past updates, I just don’t see this one winning me over. I appreciate the initial idea, but the way YouTube executed this is just awful. Instead of the feature actually helping, it’s causing more trouble for both the viewers and content creators alike.

YouTube Increases Video Limit to 15 Mins

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:01:36 +0000

As of today, YouTube is increasing the time limits for all non-partners. The 10 minutes limit is now being increased to 15 minutes. According to Joshua Siegel, YouTube’s product manager for upload and video management, this is the improvement requested most by users.

One of the reasons for this update is that YouTube feels it has taken great steps in protecting against the uploading of lengthy copyrighted videos. Siegel wrote, “Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today.”

This new change is also in relation to people’s behavior in uploading and watching videos online. Back in 2005, YouTube’s founders felt that people would use the website to make short profile videos and predicted that their attention span would be too short to watch long videos.

However, attention spans are growing with YouTube partners now starting to upload lengthy videos. Often these videos would be as long as 30 minutes or more. Though you can still expect the shorter, 3-4 minutes, videos to still do better.

To market this new update, YouTube has launched a contest called “15 Minutes of Fame”. All you have to do is make a 15 minutes video showing what you want the world to know about you. The winners will then be featured on YouTube’s homepage. The deadline is Aug 4 and to enter you need to tag your video as “yt15minutues”.

YouTube Campaign Doubles Old Spice Sales

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:42:14 +0000

Remember those Old Spice ads of the smooth talking hunk that were uploaded faster than you could watch them? If you don’t then you’re not a man, man. The viral campaign was so effective that sales of the Old Spice body wash went up 107% in the past month.

For nearly two days straight a team of filmmakers, computer nerds, and one former NFL wide receiver filmed and uploaded ads onto YouTube. These ads were aimed at the general public and celebrities as they got to have their questions answered directly by the Old Spice guy.

The process was brilliant, original, and complex. As the camera crew was filming a video another crew would search for questions on their laptops and blackberries in real time. The questions were carefully chosen as they were either asked by a celeb or inspired the next creative, humorous video.

As soon as one video was filmed and uploaded another script was written and ready to be filmed. One after another, these catchy ads were uploaded for hours answering questions in real time. A series of videos was even a real time flirty conversation between the Old Spice guy and married actress, Alyssa Milano.

Nielsen reports a 107% sales increase of Old Spice body wash over the past month. It’s safe to say that the viral campaign is responsible for the sudden sales increase. It is also being reported that Old Spice is working on a new campaign, but it’s “unrelated” to the Mustafa videos. It will be interesting to see if they can top themselves.

How to Deal With Haters

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:57:13 +0000

As a YouTuber, one of the most difficult things to deal with is haters or “trolls”. All YouTubers, both big and small, deal with haters everyday. I often get ask, “How do you deal with haters?” This is sometimes difficult to answer for two reasons; how big are you and what is your personality like?

When you’re new to YouTube or still fairly small, the best way to deal with haters is to simply delete their comments. The last thing you want is the majority of your comments to be insults. That way someone won’t prejudge you and your videos because of those hate comments.

As you start to gain supporters and you grow as a YouTuber, you can let the hate comments sit there. Your supporters will either knock the hate comments out of view with their own comments, or they’ll defend you. Having loyal viewers that defends you show both you and new viewers that you must have something to offer.

Now many YouTubers are told not to respond to haters, because you’ll only get more hate. I disagree, because I’ve found that people will subscribe to you solely on how you deal with haters.

When someone attempts to hate on me, I often respond back with a wittier and more humorous insult. My responses have become so popular amongst my subscribers that I turned it into a segment called “Stupid Troll is Stupid”.

However, you may not like to insult others even if they are haters. If that’s the case, just respond back with a friendly comment such as a “aww thanks” or “<3”. This will show people that hate comments don’t bother you.

What are some ways that you deal with haters? Do you ignore them? Respond back to them? Or do you do something not mentioned in the article?

Partnership invite only?

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:13:02 +0000

It has been rumored for months that partnership applications will cease and become invite only. The recent meetings between YouTube and its partners have only kept these rumors alive.

Reliable sources from these meetings gave more insight on these rumors. YouTube will slowly pull the plug on partnership applications in the coming months. Making it invite only. Why would YouTube do such a thing?

There are currently 10 YouTube employees that manage an estimated 10,000 YouTube partners. With complaints of a lack of response from partner support it’s believed their resources are spread thin.

Also, there are complaints of lack of promotion for many partnered channels. Many partners often cite the “overly” promoted channels such as ShaneDawsonTV, RayWillianJohnson, iJustine, and other popular channels in exchange for leaving smaller partners in the dust.

Sources say that YouTube feels that making partnership invite only will allow them to put more focus on smaller partners. This will allow them to promote more channels and increase their revenue value. It’s safe to say that these rumors are true. Partnership has become increasingly difficult to obtain, often leaving many YouTubers without a response to their application.

How do you feel about these rumors? Do you think they are true? If so, do you support YouTube’s decision to make partnership invite only, or do you think it’s unfair?

What happened to PauseStopRewind?

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:52:05 +0000

What happened to PauseStopRewind?

Over the last few months, I’ve been asked what happened to the website and why I haven’t updated it. Between the combination of a slow computer, lack of time, and redirected focuses I found it impossible to update the website.

Will you ever regularly update PauseStopRewind again?

Yes, starting today I will update the website daily. This is now possible thanks to a new computer, better knowledge, easier marketing capabilities, and a new found motivation.

What can we expect from PauseStopRewind?

Over time you should expect an increase in postings per day, guest writers, new sections, and a more mature look for the site.

Can I apply for the spotlight?

As of right now, I will NOT be doing spotlights. This is simply because I want to build up useful content and traffic. At that point, spotlights will be more effective. You can expect spotlights to be reinstated in a couple of weeks.

Can I apply to be a guest writer?

Details on applying as a guest writer will come soon.

Why box subs could hurt you

admin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 01:34:08 +0000

YouTube recent decision to allow all of its users to have access to boxing one another has been praised. Now non-partner YouTubers feel that they have the equal opportunity promote one another with hopes of increasing their subscribers, views, and reputation. However, what many don’t realize, both partners and non-partners, is that gaining subscribers via boxes may hurt them more than help.

The myth is that all the subscribers you gain from boxes will watch your videos, but that’s hardly the case at all. Not only will the majority not know who they just subscribed to, they also won’t bother to check out your channel or videos. So you may gain 5,000 subscribers from someone’s box, but you’ll be lucky to get 500 of them to watch your videos.

In the end, you’re left with what is known as inflated subscribers. What this means is that your video views never reach or exceed your subscriber count. Thus your reputation will never grow nor does your bank account if you plan on earning an income from YouTube. It’s no different than having gained fake subscribers from scams.

However, there are ways to avoid your subscriber count from becoming inflated; in-video cross promotion. You need to do collabs or get shoutouts from the YouTubers whose boxes you are in. This gets some of their loyal subscribers to become your loyal subscribers.

You can also send a message/comment to every subscriber that subscribes to you, thanking them for subscribing. This may in turn get them to check out your channel and videos. However, this takes more time and energy, and you will get fewer results than a collab/shoutout.

Now there are those who say “numbers don’t matter”, but you’ll often find that these very same people take pride in their inflated subscriber count they gained from boxes. So keep in mind, nothing comes easy even when it does seem easy. When you gain subscribers easily from boxes, it’s going to take some work and effort to get them to view your videos.

Are YouTubers abusing Facebook to gain subscribers?

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:28:13 +0000

Facebook has served as a powerful social networking tool for many YouTubers. Some use it to create fan pages while others choose to directly connect with their viewers using their own personal accounts. However, recent events have many asking, “Are some YouTubers abusing Facebook for an unfair gain?”

A YouTuber by the name of peachofmeat barely had 1,800 subscribers with only two public videos. The highest viewed video had a little over 100k views. Then suddenly his subscriber count jumped from 1,800 to over 180,000 in 24 hours. With poor video content and quality and no evidence of being featured on YouTube, many speculated that either a scam or program was used.

The examining of his recent video comments showed evidence of what is called a “bait and hook”. Peachofmeat used Facebook, likely a Facebook group of fan page, to trick people into subscribing to his account. The exact group, if any, has yet to be revealed though.

However, Jussttom brought another fan page possibly involving another YouTuber to my attention. This Has Got To Be The Ugliest Girl EVER is a Facebook fan page that promises to show a picture of the ugliest girl ever. Before you can see the picture though, you must first become a fan. Then once you join the group you’re asked to click a confirm button, but you’re told to make sure that you’re logged into your YouTube account.

Clicking the confirm button takes you to the YouTube subscribe page for iShatOnU. After seeing this I checked iShatOnU’s stats on vidstatsx.com. According to the dependable website, he has generated over 20k subscribers in 24 hours. Which sounds slightly similar to peachofmeat’s case.

Now keep in mind, this isn’t proof that iShatOnU is using Facebook to gain subs. It’s proof that the use of a Facebook group is increasing his subs, may it be him or a fan trying to help him out. Also, incase you were wondering, the group does fulfill its promise, and yes, the chick is really ugly.

A review of YouTube’s TOS seems to suggest that this isn’t wrong. However, many YouTubers would say it’s morally wrong. Of course the counter argument is that they’re real people with real accounts, they’re not forced to subscribe, and they can easily unsubscribe if they want to. Do you believe this is wrong or do you think this is an innovative way to gain subscribes and promotion?

Update: iShatOnU stated on his Twitter that he had no doing in his recent sub count via the Facebook group. Seeing how he’s worked hard on YouTube and wishes to maintain a good reputation, it’s most likely this is true.

YouTubers versus false copyright claims

admin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:21:27 +0000

YouTube was created for free expression so that everyone can have their own voice through their videos. However, lately that tone has radically changed with the suspension of YouTubers and the deletion of videos without warning. We’ve come to realize that the use copyrighted material is against policy, but false copyright claims have left many worrying.

Peter Coffin was one such person to have this fallen upon his lap. He uploaded a parody of Whatcha Say, with no copyrighted material, music or visuals. Yet the video was deleted for a false copyright claim by Warner Music Group. This left Peter Coffin with the inability of uploading content.

In response, he protested YouTube’s and WMG’s decision and by sparking the hashtag of #TeamCoffin and #BooWarner through the use of Twitter. WMG’s twitter was constantly with @replies of the hashtags. This surly caught their attention, because within two days his video was restored along with his ability to upload content.

RyanAbeMakesItHappen was recently suspended, because of copyrighted material. However, before the incident, his record was clean of any copyright strikes. This led to him questioning his suspension and emailing YouTube. However, their response would only lead to more questions. YouTube wouldn’t tell him which videos were in violation.

This has left many YouTuber questioning the judgment of YouTube. Who is YouTube really looking out for, cooperation’s or its users? Also, when a majority of your income is generated from your videos, a sudden suspension could lead to money troubles. This last issue anyone should experience in this current economy.