Public Policy Connections: YouTube Sends Users To Copyright School: Should Content Owners Have to Go, Too?

 

YouTube Sends Users To Copyright School: Should Content Owners Have to Go, Too?

Google has faced mounting criticism from lawmakers and the entertainment industry for not doing enough to combat online copyright infringement, and on April 14 released a set of stricter copyright policies for YouTube online video users.  Copyright policy violators will be required to watch a "copyright tutorial" and pass a test before allowing them to continue using the service.

A posting by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) digs deeper into the issues, crediting YouTube for doing the right thing by jettisoning its one-size-fits-all three strikes termination policy, while also questioning  requiring users who receive takedown notices to go to “copyright school," and that school has a pretty misleading curriculum. EFF makes the point that if YouTube is going to ask users to learn more about copyright when they receive a takedown notice, they should require the same of right-holders whose takedowns are disputed. As we have been reminded all too often, many content owners are badly in need of copyright education.

Read POLITICO Pro news story: Google unveils 'copyright school"
Read EFF news story: YouTube Sends Users To Copyright School: Will Content Owners Have to Go, Too?
Read LA Times news story:  YouTube to require 'tutorials' for copyright offenders

Public Policy Connections: YouTube Sends Users To Copyright School: Should Content Owners Have to Go, Too?

Christian Copyright Solutions Releases VIDEOready License for Christian Camps and Youth Ministries

Christian Copyright Solutions Releases VIDEOready License for Christian Camps and Youth Ministries 

Christian Copyright Solutions Releases VIDEOready License for Christian Camps and Youth Ministries

FAIRHOPE, Ala., June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- It's the perfect gift for youth groups and campers -- visual images capturing the colors, sights, sounds and images of their life-changing trips and events. User-friendly technology makes it easy for student and camp leaders to film and produce highlight videos, and mixing the hottest Christian music with images just sweetens the memories. But is it LEGAL?

Many Christian leaders are unaware it is illegal to "lift" songs from their favorite artists (whether from a CD or MP3 download) to score highlight scenes without prior permission and licensing from owners of the songs and recordings.

To provide an easy and legal solution for church and camp leaders, Christian Copyright Solutions (CCS) announces the launch of VIDEOready License (http://copyrightsolver.com/VideoReadyLicense.aspx), an internet on-demand license, providing immediate online authorization for hundreds of today's most popular Christian songs.

In collaboration with major Christian music publishers and record labels, the VIDEOready License features pre-approved licensing for a selection of song tracks (including both song and sound recording) by top Christian artists--like Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Kari Jobe, Lincoln Brewster, Hillsong and Third Day.

I know Christian camp staffs and leaders want to do the right thing," explains Susan Fontaine Godwin, CCS CVO/Founder. "They want to model a good example for youths regarding upholding the laws of the land (1 Tim. 5:18). They often don't, however, due to lack of knowledge, confusion or the complexities in getting copyright clearances."

According to the U.S. Copyright Law, prior permission to reproduce music must be obtained from the owner of the song and the sound recording, which are two separate copyrights and often controlled by at least two different parties. The VIDEOready License now makes legal authorization simple, easy and immediate.

"Music Services applauds Christian Copyright Solutions for their new program, VIDEOready License," states Don Cason, Music Services Vice President. "This program provides legitimate permission for the use of many popular Christian recordings for uses on camp and event video projects. It's a wonderful turn-key solution to secure the proper licenses for some of the top songs used in these projects. Congratulations, CCS."

"We try so hard to do the right thing, but it's been so difficult to do that with our videos," says Sarah Augustston of Covenant Harbor Bible Camp. "I am so grateful that God placed this idea in the minds of others, so that all camps may be able to honor the copyright issues."

CCS (www.copyrightsolver.com) offers online administration, consultation and education services to a client base which includes Saddleback Church, Pine Cove Christian Camps, Willow Creek Church, Bellevue Baptist Church. In addition to the VIDEOready License, CCS features the following services and licenses:

• PermissionsPlus - online copyright administration digitally manages every detail of permissions/licensing from start to finish.
• WorshipCast License - legally webcast more than 16 million songs
• PerformMusic License - one-stop church performance license from ASCAP, BMI & SESAC

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SOURCE Christian Copyright Solutions

Christian Copyright Solutions Releases VIDEOready License for Christian Camps and Youth Ministries

Librarians = Open Access and New Media Advocates : Greg Laden's Blog

Video -- HSM -- Thanks to Librarians = Open Access and New Media Advocates : Greg Laden's Blog

Librarians = Open Access and New Media Advocates

hat tip Bora, where you can find more.

 

Librarians = Open Access and New Media Advocates : Greg Laden's Blog

Tim O'Reilly makes the argument for Open Publishing @ TOC 2009 on Vimeo

 Tim O'Reilly makes the argument for Open Publishing @ TOC 2009 on Vimeo

Tim O'Reilly makes the argument for Open Publishing @ TOC 2009

by Open Publishing Lab @ RIT

See all Show me

Tim O'Reilly makes the argument for Open Publishing @ TOC 2009 from Open Publishing Lab @ RIT on Vimeo.

Open Publishing Lab @ RIT's videos

Drawing upon his real world experiences, Tim O'Reilly shares his thoughts on Open Publishing, why its a good idea, and how to make it work. This video was taken on the floor of the 2009 O'Reilly Tools of Change conference in New York City.
For more information on Tim O'Reilly (and why he knows what he's talking about), head to oreilly.com/ or follow him at: twitter.com/timoreilly
You can read (and download) "What is Web 2.0" at:
oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
The video was produced by the Open Publishing Lab at RIT. The OPL is a cross disciplinary open-source publishing research center. To learn more about the OPL and our open-source publishing projects, visit opl.rit.edu or follow us at: twitter.com/ritopl
This video was shot using a Kodak Zi6 Digital Video Camera kodak.com/go/Zi6

Tim O'Reilly makes the argument for Open Publishing @ TOC 2009 on Vimeo

NBC, CBS, Fox say Redlasso breaking copyright laws | Technology | Internet | Reuters

 

NBC, CBS, Fox say Redlasso breaking copyright laws | Technology | Internet | Reuters

NBC, CBS, Fox say Redlasso breaking copyright laws

Tue May 20, 2008 4:51pm EDT

By Paul Thomasch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBC, CBS, and Fox charged on Tuesday that Redlasso, a closely-held website operator, has violated copyright laws by streaming video clips of their news, sports and television shows without permission.

In a letter, lawyers for CBS Corp, General Electric's NBC, News Corp's Fox and Allbritton Communications Co, a TV station owner, said Redlasso has broken state and federal laws while causing the companies "serious and irreparable harm."

They demanded Redlasso stop reproducing, distributing or displaying the broadcasts.

Redlasso, in a statement, said it is reviewing the letter and expects to respond shortly.

As interest in online video has boomed, broadcasters are attempting to avoid the music industry's troubles by closely protecting their content on the Web. Previously, Viacom Inc. filed a $1 billion copyright infringement against Google Inc and its video-share site YouTube.

In turn, broadcasters are making more of their content available through their own advertising-supported sites. News Corp and NBC Universal, for instance, are partners in Hulu, an online video site where clips and full-length movies and TV shows are available.

Redlasso is a site that enables users -- often bloggers -- to create clips from TV broadcasts and then share them. The service is free, according to its website, which says it splits advertising revenue with producers and owners of the content.

In the letter, the lawyers representing the media companies write, "Redlasso's unauthorized use in connection with its own services of the content owners' valuable and famous trademarks, along with various statements made on Redlasso's web site and at various online industry gatherings, among other places, falsely convey an affiliation between Redlasso and the content owners, when there is none."

They sought a response from Redlasso by May 29.

In its statement on Tuesday, Redlasso said, "We believe that curtailing distribution through the Redlasso platform only exacerbates a flawed distribution model. We hope to develop mutually beneficially partnerships with the world's major media companies, including many of those we've heard from today."

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Misunderstanding Copyright Law And Ruining Everyone’s Fun

 

Misunderstanding Copyright Law And Ruining Everyone’s Fun

 

Finally the Richter Scales video -- in question of the Lane Hartwell and the band.... a 2nd opinion on whether it is fair use.....Any wonder why everyone is so confused?

My feeling is only the lawyers win.....

Universal Music Group Nixes Nine Inch Nails Remix Site | Listening Post from Wired.com

Universal Music Group Nixes Nine Inch Nails Remix Site | Listening Post from Wired.com 

Universal Music Group Nixes Nine Inch Nails Remix Site

By Eliot Van Buskirk November 20, 2007 | 1:47:40 PM

A few years ago, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails persuaded his label, Universal Music Group, to let him post master recordings on his website for fans to remix.  People do this anyway with other artists, using mixed-down versions of the songs, but Reznor gave his fans the files making up the tracks individually, which allows them to do true remixes rather than manipulating the released version of a song.

"A lot of really fun stuff started to happen….communities developed, web sites were created, even traditional radio got in the game and began playing the fans' mixes," according to Reznor.  An album of fan remixes was released, and then Reznor decided to post the fan remixes.

But on Saturday, his former label, Universal, which owns the master rights to those songs, alerted Reznor that because it's trying to sue YouTube and MySpace, the remixes had to come down.  The label is suing YouTube (Google) and MySpace (News Corp.), because they want to be alerted by copyright owners when a user posts something copyrighted, rather than being required to screen every song and video before it appears.

Reznor wrote, "Universal feels that if they host our remix site, they will be opening themselves up to the accusation that they are sponsoring the same technical violation of copyright they are suing these companies for... we are challenged at the last second to find a way of bringing this idea to life without getting splashed by the urine as these media companies piss all over each other's feet.  We have a cool and innovative site ready to launch but we're currently scratching our heads as to how to proceed."
Here's his full explanation:

Several years ago I persuaded my record company to let me begin posting my master recording files on nin.com, in order to see what kind of user-generated content would materialize from my music. I had no agenda… the main reason I did it was because I thought it was cool and something I would have liked to do if it was available to me. A lot of really fun stuff started to happen….communities developed, web sites were created, even traditional radio got in the game and began playing the fans' mixes. I felt the experiment, despite not having a specific purpose, was a success. So much so that we're now releasing a remix album that includes some of this fan-created material as well as the actual multitrack master files for every song from my latest record, Year Zero.

One piece was missing to me and that was an official nin.com presence for aggregating all of the fan-created remixes. Several intrepid fans had stepped up and done a great job providing a destination for people to post these, but I felt all along this was a function I should more directly support. So, upon release of this new remix album, our plan has been to launch an official site on nin.com that would provide a place for all fan remix material and other interactive fan experiences.

Or so I thought.

On Saturday morning I became aware of a legal hitch in our plans. My former record company and current owner of all these master files, Universal, is currently involved in a lawsuit with other media titans Google (YouTube) and News Corp (MySpace). Universal is contending that these sites do not have what is referred to as "safe harbor" under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and therefore are in copyright violation because users have uploaded music and video content that is owned by Universal. Universal feels that if they host our remix site, they will be opening themselves up to the accusation that they are sponsoring the same technical violation of copyright they are suing these companies for. Their premise is that if any fan decides to remix one of my masters with material Universal doesn't own - a "mash-up", a sample, whatever - and upload it to the site, there is no safe harbor under the DMCA (according to Universal) and they will be doing exactly what MySpace and YouTube are doing. This behavior may get hauled out in court and impact their lawsuit. Because of this they no longer will host our remix site, and are insisting that Nine Inch Nails host it. In exchange for this they will continue to let me upload my Universal masters and make them available to fans, BUT shift the liability of hosting them to me. Part of the arrangement is having user licenses that the fans sign (not unlike those on MySpace or You Tube) saying they will not use unauthorized materials. If they WERE to do such a thing, everybody sues everybody and the world abruptly ends.

While I am profoundly perturbed with this stance as content owners continue to stifle all innovation in the face of the digital revolution, it is consistent with what they have done in the past. So... we are challenged at the last second to find a way of bringing this idea to life without getting splashed by the urine as these media companies piss all over each other’s feet. We have a cool and innovative site ready to launch but we're currently scratching our heads as to how to proceed.
More to come….

By the way, the potential implications of a lawsuit like this one go well beyond creating hurdles for a Nine Inch Nails remix site. Here is an excerpt from technology site Ars Technica regarding a similar lawsuit Viacom has filed against YouTube:

The DMCA's Safe Harbor provisions aren't just important to video sharing sites; they're important to almost every sector of Internet-based business.
"Nearly every major Internet company depends on the very same legal foundation that YouTube is built on," said von Lohmann. "A legal defeat for YouTube could result in fundamental changes to its business, potentially even making it commercially impossible to embrace user-generated content without first 'clearing' every video. In other words, a decisive victory for Viacom could potentially turn the Internet into TV, a place where nothing gets on the air until a cadre of lawyers signs off," he said. "More importantly, a victory for Viacom could potentially have enormous implications for Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, MySpace, and many other Internet companies, because they all rely on the same DMCA Safe Harbors to protect many facets of their businesses, as well. The stakes are high all around."

Indeed.

Universal Music Group Nixes Nine Inch Nails Remix Site | Listening Post from Wired.com

Video -- Copyright!

Great Video on Copyright, entitled "A Fair(y) Use Tale" by Eric Faden using Disney characters.

Sorry -- will add additional information and link (creator and citation) when I locate it again, but I wanted to try and load a video.


So here goes -- Video on basics of Copyright......