Megaupload vs Universal

[Triple Zero]

I suppose most of you haven't been following this, but MegaUpload is trying to promote its legitimate business with a promo video featuring several RIAA Label and A-star celebrities on Youtube.

And then Universal took it down via what seemed to be a DMCA request. Indeed, taking down material they did not own the copyright to. Internet outrage and lawsuits followed.

But now it got even weirder:

http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-video-reinstated-universal-says-you-cant-touch-us-111216/

Universal claims that it wasn't a really real DMCA takedown notice for real, but that they have a contract with YouTube that allows them to take down *any* video via a special YouTube CMS control panel, whether they own it or not.

Been following this for a while now, kept meaning to link it, but there you have it.

[Pæs]

 

It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

[Faust]

I suppose most of you haven't been following this, but MegaUpload is trying to promote its legitimate business with a promo video featuring several RIAA Label and A-star celebrities on Youtube.

And then Universal took it down via what seemed to be a DMCA request. Indeed, taking down material they did not own the copyright to. Internet outrage and lawsuits followed.

But now it got even weirder:

http://torrentfreak.com/megaupload-video-reinstated-universal-says-you-cant-touch-us-111216/

Universal claims that it wasn't a really real DMCA takedown notice for real, but that they have a contract with YouTube that allows them to take down *any* video via a special YouTube CMS control panel, whether they own it or not.

Been following this for a while now, kept meaning to link it, but there you have it.

If any of those videos have the advertising revenue option turned on Universal broke the law by removing those videos.

[Triple Zero]

One bit of irony I forgot to mention, the DMCA (and SOPA) are giving the record labels a crazy amount of power, since indeed if you're big and scary enough, you can take down anything you want. It was implied that the record labels and other big copyright holders would handle this power responsibly. Universal just proved that they can't.

And Faust, what I understood about it is that sending a DMCA takedown notice for content you don't own is indeed breaking the law, but not the kind that you can sue over, but the kind that needs to be handled by a public prosecutor (I forget the legal term for this). And that's not going to happen because the big copyright holders own sufficient politicians to keep that from happening.

Still, MegaUpload is going to court with something and we haven't heard the last of this yet.

[Triple Zero]

Except as the most recent development (the last link in my post) shows, Universal now claims it has a deal with YouTube to short circuit DMCA, which isn't against the law. Probably that contract requires UMG to demonstrate a copyright claim on video. So it might violate their contract with YouTube, in which case YT could sue or fine them. But that ball is in YouTube's court, and I kind of expect them wanting to get as little involved in the whole matter as possible.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Our overlords have spoken! We will not see what they do not wish us to see.