Hitler Rants Video About DMCA Takedowns Is Taken Down Itself
from the recursive-loop dept
The super popular "Hitler rants..." meme is now under fire by Constantin Film, the German production company behind Downfall, from which the original clip is taken. According to TechCrunch, Constantin started filing DMCA takedowns on many of the popular YouTube variants of the oft re-subtitled clip. Particularly ironic is the fact that the director of the movie enjoys the clips himself -- but of course, since the producer holds the copyright to the movie, the director has no real say in the matter.In a mind-blowing meta way, the most amusing video caught in this mess is the takedown of the video that parodies these takedowns themselves:
Since this video, which uses the same Downfall clip in question, can be considered parody, then it should be covered under fair use. Since its creator filed a dispute after it was taken down, for now, the video is viewable on YouTube (and on Vimeo, as in the link above), awaiting review from Constantin on the copyright claim.
That said, Constatin has a lot of work to do if it truly wants to remove all instances of this video online. There are thousands of variants available and, in looking through a list of the some of the most popular videos, not even all of those have been taken down yet. Even so, when a popular variant is taken down, the video can be posted to other sites, as in the case of "Hitler Finds Out About the iPhone 4g Leak," the video that supposedly was the first of the videos to be taken down.
It's not clear what Constantin is looking to gain by issuing these takedowns. Constantin is killing the very promotional vehicle that has been driving sales and rentals of Downfall itself. Each viewing of these videos has played a part in pulling the 2004 movie out of oblivion -- without these millions of views, very few, if any, people would have ever heard of the movie.
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Filed Under: dmca, hitler, hitler rants, takedowns
Companies: constantin film
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I rented it on Netflix because of these parodies. It's a great movie. Without the parodies, there is simply no way I ever would have heard of it.
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nothing more than a money grab
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Stats?
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Re: Stats?
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http://sean-o.com/hitlermeme
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send a copy to michael geist
H.I.T.L.E.R
in that combination...lol.
ITS have fun with lawyers day
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Oh, ha ha. Very funny.
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It’s fair to say that these parodies have helped sustain it’s popularity beyond the expected timeframe, but it isn’t an unknown film in Europe.
Having said all that, removing parodies that drive viewers to your film is completely insane.
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Re:
I don't pay attention to any of those silly awards on TV because way back when I did, they never gave them to the people I thought deserved em.
I see that you acknowledge that the takedowns is insane, which I agree with, but this is far from a well known film around my groups.
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-1 sale
Having watched a few funny clips of him recently, I had already changed my mind and was going to buy a copy of Downfall.
Now they're being assholes about it, I don't think I'll bother.
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make that -2 sales
poo poo head. but a much worse one than Mr. Masnick or Mr. D. Helmet.
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Hummm
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The Streisand effect works in many ways
Now the effect is going to be what an asshole this guy is and how he try’s to squash the little guy who is trying to have some fun. So I will not give him money to see his movie.
Maybe one of the positives of the internet age is the greater roll of the feedback “of the masses”
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I really want to see the movie now.
That said, before the parodies I didn't even know this movie existed. If I'd seen the preview of that part, I would've figured it to be like any other movie and not given a crap about it.
Question for anyone who's seen the movie.
Is the movie:
a) really that good?
b) factually correct or at least as close as they can get?
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Re: I really want to see the movie now.
Is the movie:
a) really that good?
b) factually correct or at least as close as they can get?"
You should just buy it for your Dad-in-law; "Downfall" is an AWESOME movie!
I can't imagine a WWII film more plausably realistic, especially heard in DTS on a decent surround sound system.
Mind-blowing!
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date
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Original movie still on Youtube
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Irony
So when this video was created it (strictly) wasn't fair use and therefore the takedown is OK.
However once the takedown is issued the producers of the original film become the object of the parody and so it becomes fair use. Thus this DMCA takedown invalidates itself.
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Priceless!
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Wow...
It was a good movie... too bad they are trying to kill it.
Dumb asses.
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The Striesand Effect BIG Time
So his mike just reached millions of listeners.
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Well, that's why I bought the DVD.
Anyway, it's too late to close the barn doors on this one. This clip has attained almost iconic status - people who don't know anything about the movie, never mind the events it portrays know all about "The Hitler Rant".
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Nice site--be a shame if anything happened to it
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Re: Nice site--be a shame if anything happened to it
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBO5dh9qrIQ
It's more Hitler having a rant about the takedowns and like many of them, not entirely SFW.
"Don't worry, he'll realise the irony soon"
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Convention - Lets get one on!
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oh well
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suing back companies...
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New York Times Article
Twitter, DMCA Take-Downs & the Prior Restraint of First Amendment Speech
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big in europe... and... ?
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buddy
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mating call
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me
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