- Target:
- YouTube, LLC
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- hermannview.tumblr.com
Over two years ago, YouTube, under pressure from lawmakers and the music industry created a "copyright school" and released a video along with it.
Jodie Griffin of Public Knowledge writes that those YouTube users who are "alleged to have violated copyright law must watch a video discussing some of the basics on copyright law...pass a quiz or risk having their account deleted" and the "school" is one-sided as "users accused of infringing copyright must take the course, but copyright owners accused of making false or fraudulent infringement claims don't." (http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/my-first-day-youtube-copyright-school) Additionally, Raymond J. Dowd writes on his blog that the video doesn't "mention the public domain...[and] is indoctrinating children into fear of quoting materials by authors living and dead by showing images of corporal punishment meted out by judges."
Additionally, Dowd notes that "YouTube's video doesn't mention copyright law's grounding in the US Constitution, nor the purpose of copyright law." (http://copyrightlitigation.blogspot.com/2011/04/fair-use-fridays-youtube-flunks.html) Let us unite together and stop this copyright school.
In April 2011, your organization created a procedure obstinately to enforce their obligations under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act called the Copyright School. However, such a measure which is meant to deter copyright infringement, is actually punitive.
While in the past, you suspended members just for getting three copyright strikes, having such a mandatory program to delay such a process doesn't make it a better system. Claims on one's video could still be incorrect, but it is assumed that such copyright claims are automatically correct. This means that a YouTube user could go through copyright school without actually using violating copyright law at all.
There is an even more pertinent problem at hand with this copyright school. This is the stifling of creativity of music artists who post on YouTube. Your video claims that people should post original content and not use the content of others in their work. Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Ani DiFranco, Public Enemy and Malvina Reynolds, all who used the instrumentals of other songs in their own works. If an artist was to use some of the same methods on youtube with covers, remixes and mashups, they would have copyright strikes against their account. Such measures mean that fair use is in YouTube declared null and void if one even samples something from the work of others, especially the big three music companies (UMG, WMG and SME).
We, the undersigned, urge Youtube LLC to end your "copyright school" which punitive punishes music artists for using copyrighted content in their work.
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The End YouTube's copyright school! petition to YouTube, LLC was written by Burkely Hermann and is in the category Music at GoPetition.