Hitler Rants Video About DMCA Takedowns Is Taken Down Itself

from the recursive-loop dept

Wed, Apr 21st 2010 4:37am — Dennis Yang

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

68 Comments

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Ima Fish (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:11am

"Constantin is killing the very promotional vehicle that has been driving sales and rentals of Downfall itself"

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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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:21am

Man, don't you just hate it when people do stuff to make you money? Better DMCA those bastards.
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drewmerc (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:28am

i'm guessing these dcma's are just to get the film back into the news
nothing more than a money grab
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Simon, 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:50am

Stats?
Any stats on rental/sales after the parodies started appearing compared with before? I know I'd never heard of it before the parodies. [I agree 100% that the takedown is stupid, just curious if there's any firm evidence for the parodies providing benefits to the original work]
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:54am

Re: Stats?
The Hitler regime would probably try to hide those Stats. Then someone would probably leak those stats and Hitler would almost have a heart attack.
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Sean O, 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:58am

See also the original meta Hitler Downfall parody:
http://sean-o.com/hitlermeme
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NAMELESS.ONE, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:03am

send a copy to michael geist
OH and then ask him why he bans anyone that uises the LETTERS
H.I.T.L.E.R
in that combination...lol.

ITS have fun with lawyers day
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Jake, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:12am

On the other hand, that particular joke is becoming rather stale now that everyone and his dog has done some variation on the basic formula.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:17am

Re: Stats?
i suspect most people seeing the parodies didnt know about the original movie and didnt care. they were there for the joke not a movie.
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Mikecancook, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:18am

Now I'm conflicted. Because of these parodies I really wanted to see this movie. Especially since the producer has until recently been a good sport about it and letting it go. But now that they are being a raging bag of 'D' about it. I don't want to support them. It's not like I don't have a million other options for movies to watch.
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MRK, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:19am

Really someone should just issue a DMCA take down against every video in YouTube. A simple bot that scrapes YouTube for every video and issues a DMCA take down notice. To illustrate how one-sided the current system is.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:23am

Re:
That's not a bad idea. It would encourage the creation of laws that allow service providers more leeway to inspect takedowns before automatically taking something down. It would also be illegal so I'm not encouraging it.
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mdmadph (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:24am

"We might as well all be come Communists -- like Stallman!"

Oh, ha ha. Very funny.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:26am

Re: Re: Stats?
Even if true, this doesn't justify DMCA takedowns.
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Paddy (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:27am

You were going well until the last paragraph. This isn’t an unknown film at all. It was nominated for an Academy Award, and fairly well publicised across Europe on its release.

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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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:27am

Re: Re:
Youtube has no problem enforcing illegal takedowns when Constantin does it. Then again, Youtube has never been a paragon of free speech.
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Rob, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:29am

-1 sale
I passed at the opportunity to watch Downfall when it was on TV because I didn't like how Hitler looked and the ads didn't exactly portray the movie as one worth watching.

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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known coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:37am

make that -2 sales
My favorite was the Death of Michael Jackson. It was the first one i saw, and i did not know others had been made before. I thought it was brilliant. Oh well now i will just think of the producer as yet another

poo poo head. but a much worse one than Mr. Masnick or Mr. D. Helmet.
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bob, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:37am

Hummm
Are the original clips of hitler in the public domain?
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known coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:45am

The Streisand effect works in many ways
One thing I find interesting is that the Streisand effect can give and the Streisand effect can take away. The you tube video’s brought attention to the movie and make folks think about it and maybe seeing it again or for the first time.

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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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:49am

Re: Re: Stats?
Most, yes. But even if one more person (AKA: Ima Fish) pays for it, would that not be a good thing? These spoofs won't replace the actual movie, they won't stop people from watching it.
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Killer_Tofu (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:58am

Re:
I had never heard of the movie until these parodies.
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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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 7:02am

I really want to see the movie now.
I've watched about 5-6 of the parodies and laughed my head off at... some of them. Anyway, now I have to see the actual movie. Seeing those clips and that performance and how much attention the movie is getting, makes me want to go watch it. If it's good enough, I'll be buying the DVD for my father-in-law who really likes WWII movies.

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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Brian (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 7:08am

Original movie still on Youtube
If you do a search on youtube you can find the ENTIRE movie on there, divided up into several parts of course. All of them are still up and going without a single DMCA yet they do a takedown of the parodies!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 7:12am

Re: Original movie still on Youtube
If the movie is good enough, I'll pay to rent or buy it to support the producer, movie crew, actors, etc. I don't mind it if the movie is good. I'd rather sit through the movie and enjoy it rather than worry about clicking on clips of the movie strung together.
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Brian (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 7:29am

Re: Re: Original movie still on Youtube
What I said had nothing to do with buying it, its the fact the entire movie is left up completely untouched by DMCA takedown notices yet simple parodies are being pulled down left and right.
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Richard (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 7:37am

Irony
Now strictly speaking parody is only fair use if you are parodying the work itself or its creators. Using somebody else's work to parody a 3rd party doesn't count.
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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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 7:48am

Re:
What is this "Europe" thing you speak of? If it didn't play at my local cineplex, it never happened.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 8:15am

(cries over the death of free speech)

Priceless!
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Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 9:14am

Wow...
Hey... I would never have known about the movie and subsequently rented it. What the fuck is wrong with companies?! Why can't they see that this is some of the best (and free) advertisements?!?!?!

It was a good movie... too bad they are trying to kill it.

Dumb asses.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 9:33am

You are incorrect Richard, the movie itself is parodied as well as whatever their target is.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 11:15am

Re:
good idea. you run it and sign your name on each one. enjoy the lawsuits. absolutely moronic. while you are at it why not send tips to the fbi that every one of your high school teachers are trading kiddie porn too? your ideas are moronic.
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ShellMG, 21 Apr 2010 @ 11:33am

The Striesand Effect BIG Time
Say what you will about Rush Limbaugh, but he discussed this story today and his comments were a mirror image of Techdirt comments. He also added that he doesn't rent DVDs he BUYS them, and seeing the parodies on YouTube caused him to purchase the movie and watch it. He added he never would've known about the film -- which he liked and thought it was very good -- if it hadn't been for the parodies.

So his mike just reached millions of listeners.
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Fester Bestertester, 21 Apr 2010 @ 1:36pm

Well, that's why I bought the DVD.
I saw a few of the parodies - and then bought the DVD. I doubt I would have done so otherwise. It's not heavily advertised, and I didn't see it during its relatively short and limited tenure in the theater.

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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vyvyan, 21 Apr 2010 @ 3:19pm

Constantin is trying to make (their) Downfall. This time for real.
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Kevin Carson, 21 Apr 2010 @ 11:41pm

Nice site--be a shame if anything happened to it
Anonymous Coward 12: A DOS attack against Constantin Films' website would also be illegal, so I'm not encouraging that either.
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Yeebok (profile), 22 Apr 2010 @ 12:01am

I think this one is even better :
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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Steve R. (profile), 22 Apr 2010 @ 4:36pm

Convention - Lets get one on!
I didn't realize that this seems to achieving cult status. We have Star Trek conventions, now we can have a convention based based on these film clips. The best one gets an iron cross or similar symbol. So who will organize the first convention? Just think of all the memorabilia you could sell!
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doubting thomas, 26 Apr 2010 @ 8:07am

oh well
I guess I won't rent the movie, then.
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hendro, 27 Apr 2010 @ 12:11am

suing back companies...
i wonder, whether we (people) can sue the companies back for violating public copyright. i am sick of companies doing whatever they want to people.
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Steve R. (profile), 27 Apr 2010 @ 5:43am

New York Times Article
New York Times Article. Poorly written, but at least it is a recognition, in the Times, that DMCA can be used in an abusive manner. Gasp! They even reached out to quote TechDirt. Amazing to see a New York Times article that even acknowledges the existence of those opposed to so-called "intellectual property".

Twitter, DMCA Take-Downs & the Prior Restraint of First Amendment Speech
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AC & Your Sunshine's Banned, 27 Apr 2010 @ 6:21pm

Re: I really want to see the movie now.
"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?"

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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the downfall of intelligence, 3 May 2010 @ 6:23pm

big in europe... and... ?
seriously... do you think the majority of americans give a flying flip about something that's "big in europe" ...seriously... u think the people who think of david hasslehoff as a "great musician" really matter to your average american (not saying much, i know...) to whom hip hop, lady gaga, kanye west, et al are philosophical geniuses and popular icons? pull your head back into the sunshine my friend.
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Lur, 28 May 2010 @ 9:36pm

Downfall? I thought till i read this it was from inglorious bastards.
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David Robert Lewis, 1 Jul 2010 @ 1:38pm

As one of the people affected by the takedown notice would appreciate advice on how to go about filing a dispute.
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bh, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:41am

hello
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big tiny, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:43am

hey daniel
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Kevin, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:44am

come to soggy buds
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big tiny, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:45am

that place is disgusting
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Elder, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:46am

hey tyler
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dylan manning, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:46am

Re:
vjgh5t
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buddy
buddy is funny
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Dylan Manning, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:48am

mating call
I'm a dumbass
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big tiny, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:49am

i know
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:50am

Buddy farts alot
[ link to this | view in thread ]
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I want to do everyone
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kevin, 27 Oct 2010 @ 6:57am

me
im sexy
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i hate pie
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halloween soon
[ link to this | view in thread ]
big tiny, 29 Oct 2010 @ 6:20am

i was here
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hitman, 29 Oct 2010 @ 6:20am

hey big tiny
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hitman, 29 Oct 2010 @ 6:22am

hey big tiny
[ link to this | view in thread ]
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cameron is weird
[ link to this | view in thread ]
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dimitri farted
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mystery man, 14 Jan 2011 @ 11:51am

Re:
you are an apple
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mystery man, 14 Jan 2011 @ 11:53am

date
do you wAnt to go out with the sexy beast me
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mystery man, 14 Jan 2011 @ 11:56am

Re: Nice site--be a shame if anything happened to it
yes your are funny faced apple carrot rapist
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lrobbo (profile), 30 May 2012 @ 12:40pm

Hitler parodies still going strong in 2012 . . . long may they thrive!
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