YouTube’s Downfall advice: Contest the takedown

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Following the news that Constantin Film has, in my view stupidly, issued takedowns for the many parodies using short clips of its movie Downfall, the backlash has started.

YouTube has recommended that anyone who has a video that has been taken down under their Content ID system should dispute the takedown. Mashable has the full story, but it seems that these videos may not have been taken down under the DMCA. Under YouTube’s system, if the video creator disputes the takedown, the videos will go straight back up.

The original copyright owners will then have to decide if they want to issue a DMCA notice.

“Anyone who has violated a copyright, leave the room now”

The EFF has also fought back. In a new Downfall parody, embedded below, it pokes fun at Constantin Films and points out that if the company issues improper takedown notices under the DMCA, the EFF could sue the company “for big damages”

It would be a splendid irony if Constantin Films continued in its misguided attempt to take down fair-use parodies of its film that have provided fantastic viral marketing and was itself successfully sued by the EFF for breaching different provisions of the DMCA, in particular the elements relating to “fair use”.

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As an aside, I quote this comment from Jonty Lovell (yes, he’s family):

Perhaps they are smarter than we give them credit for.

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