So perhaps a few days ago you noticed that your pony videos came down briefly from YouTube. You've probably heard rumors about what happened and it's time you got some solid intel.
So, to give you a brief scoop so far of what happened, Silvermane is going to give you a brief explaining what happened, when, to whom, and where we are at now.
The situation surrounding YouTube's recent removal of MLP-related material
#1, the YouTube videos
In early January YouTube’s auto-detect system
apparently began taking down full-length video parodies of the show like Sherclop Pone’s “Friendship Is Witchcraft” Series, and
FiMFlamFilosopy’s “Mentally
Advanced” series. . Here’s what Sherclop Pone posted
on Reddit on Jan. 16 about FiW;
"Hasbro recently added all the MLP episodes to YouTube's auto-detect program, which is why FiW and several other videos of considerable length and views were taken down, no questions asked. No human being was involved in this automatic flagging process. That happened about 2 weeks ago, and we filed a Fair Use dispute on all the episodes. The videos were automatically reinstated in the meantimeBut that ended yesterday (Ed. Note; Jan 15, 2013), when all the Fair Use disputes were rejected at once. We have filed a second Fair Use dispute, as instructed by YouTube, with more explicit details on why the videos are Fair Use. If this second form is rejected, the videos will be deleted from YouTube. In the meantime, the videos are still available in regions outside the US. Episode 2 and 7 are also still visible in all regions.”We're still working on Episode 8, but once we upload it, it will definitely be auto-detected and unavailable. We'll file a fair use claim like we did before, and it'll be available briefly, then get taken down again. Hopefully, everyone will see it in that grace period.
Let's hope for the best! –Sherclop-
1, 3-6 are blocked, 7 is not in the Sherclop Ponies Channel, but 7 was
uploaded by a different user and is not blocked. However, all are
available on Daily Motion
YouTube: Episode 2 "Read it and Sleep"
YouTube: Episode 7 "Cherry Bomb", via "Eric Cutler"
Daily Motion: All
Also, the Episodes containing commentary by other viewers has NOT been taken down, like the ones by xXSoundspeedXx. Here, for example, is his commentary on FiW Episode 1
Next, I looked at FiMFlamFilosopy’s “Mentally Advanced” Series. Using the playlist found on the following YouTube site, I found that Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 were blocked, episodes 5-10 were available, Ep. 12 was blocked (I don’t understand it either), and Episode 11 missing.
As for the Actual episodes of MLP FIM, several sites have reported that YouTube is taking down all the full-length episodes;
“It seems within the last week, (Ed. Note; Week of Jan. 2, 2013), Hasbro Studios LLC has begun to use the (YouTube) ContentID system in a move to purge all the full length episodes (of MLP; FIM) from YouTube. This was first observed by a community HD ripper who encountered the system when attempting to upload the most recent episode. He figured out that it was the episode intro that was being tagged by ContentID, with the obvious fix of removing the intro to the episode. But it seems in the more recent days, full episodes are now being submitted to ContentID
http://www.derpyhoovesnews.com/pony-youtube-issues-hasbro-studios-youtube-contentid/
I cannot find any MLP Episodes that have been
“Taken Down.” A quick search of YouTube shows all episodes up to Season III
Episode 10 are still up and available for viewing.
[Editor's Note: For a couple of days, almost all of the 1st and 2nd Season episodes were unavailable, but apparently these were appealed and they are all back up.]
Here, for example, is a 1080HD upload of “Keep
Calm And Flutter On” (Episode 10)
Update, Episode 11 was just
uploaded;
Also, there was a rumor reported by “The Round Stable” that AwkwardMarina’s fan song “Anthropology” was taken down as
well;
“…and even
(reportedly) AwkwardMarina’s posting
of her “Anthropology” fan song.”
Here is the
YouTube site for AkwardMarina’s
song;
As of Jan 29, 2013, it is up and working
fine.
Just to make
sure it wasn’t the “rough storyboard” version by isiaiahdjkim, I checked that one too; http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_209012&feature=iv&src_vid=S4dWMxTWTXE&v=ijzMnFr-8Tc
This one too is
up and working fine.
I checked a few
other uploads, including this one that has 190 MLP parodies, PMV,s etc. The only ones out of the 190 that weren’t available
were the “Mentally Advanced” episodes mentioned above.
Horseplay 3 by TriforceTrio
Conclusion
It is true that certain videos have been
flagged for removal by YouTube’s ContentID system. It
is also true that the first appeal of the takedown using the “Fair Use” clause
was rejected. Why the YouTube Content ID
system flagged those videos and not others is unknown at this time. The argument
has been made on several sites that Hasbro is only going after uploads that
contain original footage from the shows. If this was the case, 99% of the PMV’s
would have been taken down. Also, uploads that are basically full-length MLP
episodes with commentary added would be removed. Example, theBaglady74’s
“Non-Brony Commentary”. 28 episodes have been produced so far, all
containing full-length MLP episodes. None have been taken down or blocked. The full list can be seen here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djCfNEVs_Vo&playnext=1&list=PL6E3DE10155831212&feature=results_main
So, while YouTube has been blocking some
MLP-related content (exact reason is still a little unclear), the rumors that
YouTube is blocking “All MLP FiM content” is (so far)
untrue.
#2 The
“Equestria girls” website
On January 16, 2013, the owners of the fan
website “HTTP://equestriagirls.com” received a letter from Hasbro requesting a
transfer of the domain name to them. equestriagirls is (was) a simple website that just
featured the song “Equestria Girls” on a loop, with a timer showing how long
someone has been on that page. An Archived snapshot of the site can be found
here;
(Thanks to Derpyhoovesnews for making this link available)
The letter was in the standard “C&D”
format issued before to sites like “MLP Online”. A copy of the letter is shown
here;
Dear (name removed):We are counsel for Hasbro, Inc. and Hasbro Studios LLC (//Hasbro//), the owners of the copyrights and trademarks for the MY LITTLE PONY** line of toy ponies and related cartoons, including the FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC animated television series. We write because we believe you provide hosting services for www.equestriagirls.com<http://www.equestriagirls.com>, which is a website that consists solely of unauthorized episodes of Hasbro’s FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC series. We would write directly to the site owner, however there is no contact information on the website, and the domain registration information is privacy protected. There is no non-infringing content on the equestriangirls.com website:www.equestriagirls.com<http://www.equestriagirls.com>Pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (//DMCA//) we have a good faith belief that the unauthorized copying, display and distribution of Hasbro??s MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC episodes on equestriagirls.com infringes Hasbro??s copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, and is not authorized by Hasbro, its agents, or the law. We are authorized to act on Hasbro’s behalf regarding these matters. The information provided in this communication is accurate to the best of my knowledge and is provided under penalty of perjury.
On behalf of Hasbro, we therefore request that you immediately remove or disable access to the www.equestriagirls.com<http://www.equestriagirls.com> website.
We would also appreciate it if you forwarded this correspondence to the website owner (we have copied the privacy protection service on this as well) so that we can start the process of transferring the domain name registration to Hasbro. “Equestria Girls” is the name of a MY LITTLE PONY promotional video and is widely and exclusively associated with Hasbro and Hasbro Studios.Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. This letter does not purport to be a complete statement of the facts or the law and is without prejudice to Hasbro??s legal and equitable rights.
Sincerely yours,(contact information removed)
On December 18, 2012, about a year after the
Equestria Girls website was created, Hasbro trademarked the name “Equestria
Girls.” They then subsequently sent the above letter to the website’s owners
requesting a transfer of the rights to Hasbro. Although they offered no
compensation, and the actual imbedding of the looped video is really just a link
to YouTube of a video Hasbro sent to EqD, and as such, could be protected under the Fair Use rules, the website’s owners chose not to
fight the request;
I don’t care enough to file a DMCA counter-claim, even though I find it entirely absurd that it could possibly be considered infringing on anything since the site only embedded a video, where that exact video hasn’t been taken down from YouTube, and where the video was sent directly from the Hub to EQD to share with the internet in the first place. I also didn’t register the domain in bad faith, nor did I use it in bad faith, but many cases have convoluted that term in all sorts of creative ways, and it’s not at all worth my time or money to fight a UDRP case should it arise.Hasbro can have the domain if they want it. I will be very disappointed if they do something boring like redirect it to hasbro.com, but considering that they don’t have a history of pursuing ownership of domains pertaining to any of their other trademarks (such as canterlot.com or rainbowdash.com/net), maybe they really do have something planned.”(Ed. Note; “DMCA” stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act”)
As of
27 Jan. 2013, clicking on the “Equestria Girls” website just reveals a
blank white placeholder page with “oh look, an article” in the upper left-hand
corner. Clicking on that re-directs to this article cited
earlier;
So far Hasbro has not used this website to
re-direct to the Hub. Various reasons for Hasbro doing this have surfaced, the
most common being Hasbro is preparing to release a line of “Equestria Girls”
toys and want the domain for advertising purposes.
Additionally,
fans such as EvoStorm have registered alternate domain
names which contain the original content of the equestriagirls website. EvoStorm’s
“.net” site can be found here;
Other
fans have claimed “.org” and “.info” sites which e-direct to EvoStorm’s website;
- EvoStorm says:
Hasbro
crushing the little guy… It’s rather painful to watch, but I guess business is
business.
However, I took the opportunity to claim http://www.equestriagirls.net , and someone else claimed .org and .info and redirected it to my site. The site is a tribute to equestriagirls.com, with the same kind of loops and even more. I hope you don’t mind me setting all that up :3
And best of all, I’m NOT a US citizen X3
However, I took the opportunity to claim http://www.equestriagirls.net , and someone else claimed .org and .info and redirected it to my site. The site is a tribute to equestriagirls.com, with the same kind of loops and even more. I hope you don’t mind me setting all that up :3
And best of all, I’m NOT a US citizen X3
Conclusion
It is a fact that the owners of http://equestriagirls.com alleged that Hasbro sent a legal letter
to the them requesting they transfer the domain name to them.
It is also a fact that the owners declined to fight it, even though they believe that they had a right to use the video under the “Fair Use” rules. Aside
from the rather generic reasons given in the letter sent from Hasbro for
requesting the domain name, no other concrete reasons have been made available.
All other speculations at this point of what those reasons are simply that,
speculation.
#3, The Fair Use Act.
The Fair Use Act specifically permits the
non-commercial use of copyrighted work to create social commentary or parodies
of the work.. (17 U.S.C. Para.
107).
In
this case, parodies fall under “comment”. In the past, the Supreme Court has
ruled that some parodies, even if done for profit, are protected under Fair
Use;
In Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music Inc[20] the Supreme Court recognized parody as a potential fair use, even when done for profit. Roy Orbison's publisher, Acuff-Rose Music Inc, had sued 2 Live Crew in 1989 for their use of Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" in a mocking rap version with altered lyrics. The Supreme Court viewed 2 Live Crew's version as a ridiculing commentary on the earlier work, and ruled that when the parody was itself the product rather than used for mere advertising, commercial sale did not bar the defense.
However, the burden of defending a Fair use claim rests on the Defendant, and not the plaintiff, and as such, many times the defendant is not able to afford the time or money required to fight such a claim. It is cheaper to just remove the material.
Alright, that's the brief bronies and pegasisters, go ahead and ask away if you have any lingering questions.
SEMPER FILLY
