Metacafe removes a video of mine because it contains copyrighted material, but fails to understand what "fair use" means.

So, I wake today to an email from Metacafe. The email says the
following:

Your video has been removed

Thank you for being part of the Metacafe community. We are writing to let you know that the video you submitted, 'TheVlog From ThePete.Com For 10/01/07' has been removed from the site for the following reason: Video contains copyrighted material, and rights have not been cleared. We encourage you to check out our submission rules and submit other videos that meet these guidelines.

I LOVE it when hosting sites pull this crap. At least Metacafe actually TELLS me about it. I had a vlog post from last year's inauguration yanked from YouTube without a word from them. Regardless, of how long it's been since I actually logged into Metacafe (it's been years) I thought I should stand up for my right to have that video left up. So I sent them the below message via their site's contact form:

You guys pulled my video because it
contained copyrighted material. The thing is, under copyright laws of
America, I'm allowed "fair use" of copyrighted materials assuming the
use provides commentary on (or other things like parody of) the
material. In other words, you shouldn't have pulled my video. It
violated no one's rights, though pulling it violates my rights. If
you received a C&D or other legal correspondence please feel free to
forward it to me, assuming you return my video "TheVlog From
ThePete.Com For 10/01/07" to your website, that is. I don't know why
hosting sites accept responsibility for the content their users post.
Refer lawyers to us, don't just cave in to their demands--especially
in situations like this when the demands are not fair.

I think that covers the issue nicely. I sent a similar message to the folks at Revver.com when they wanted to pull a video of mine because I hadn't cleared the hold music that played in the background of a phone call I was documenting in the video. The folks at Revver understood "fair use" (in that case, it was for educational purposes) and let my video stay online. Let's see if my video that uses footage from the Daily Show from 2000 is returned to Metacafe. Watch the video yourself and see if I'm providing commentary or not.

What really cracks me up is how copyright holders need to crack down on stuff like this. I mean, you might view this as advertising for your properties. And it's not like I'm making money off of this stuff.

Or maybe it's me who is misunderstanding what "fair use" means. I've done my research, though, and I'm pretty sure commentary is allowed.

Ah well. What can you do when a corporation decides something there's not much you can do about it these days. They've got limitless funds and I have, well, almost no funds. Thanks US Supreme Court! :(

Posted via email from thepete's posterous