Discovery Channel Forcing Deadliest Catch Fan Site Offline; Claims Embedding Official Videos Infringes
from the not-the-shark-week-people-were-expecting dept
John from the soon-to-be-gone-from-the-internet site DeadliestCatchTV.com, alerts us to the news that lawyers from The Discovery Channel are taking down the site. Now, let's get the basics out of the way: the lawyers probably do have a trademark claim here. Certainly from the domain name, you might think it's an official website for the show. The site does have "not affiliated..." text, but it's hidden all the way at the bottom. If you were trying to avoid a "likelihood of confusion" problem, I would imagine it would help to make it very, very clear at the top of the page that the site is a fan site and not the official site. That said, there are a lot of problems with the way Discovery is treating this situation.First of all, in the past, The Discovery Channel actively supported John, and he's reposted an email he received not so long ago from someone at the Discovery Channel offering him free content and happily celebrating the site. Here's a couple excerpts from the email:
From: DiscoveryChannelThat certainly makes it sound like Discovery and the folks involved with the TV show are quite happy with the fan site and community that John put together. In fact, that seems like a great way to encourage and nurture a fan site. Actually, the folks behind the show have gone much further. On the official site for The Deadliest Catch, the show actually lists & links to fan sites including DeadliestCatchTV.com. They even set it up so that if you click on the link, it loads the fan site, with the official Deadliest catch "dashboard" (see below). And, as of right now, you can even see a wrapped version of John's site on the official Discovery channel page. That certainly looks like a show that wants to support its fan sites:
To: Admin
Hi Editors @ DeadliestCatchTV ,
My name is Soumik Pal, I work at Discovery Channel and I'm writing to offer you free preview content and assets from the new season of Deadliest Catch! We feel that the show is a great fit with your site (and especially your readers) and would love to get the word out about some exciting new Catch initiatives this season!
[...]
To get your readers ready for the new season, I've included the official press release, high-quality preview videos, exclusive photography, brief episode descriptions and much more...
[...]
I'm happy to act as your point of contact for any additional requests and we hope your readers might like some of the content we've provided! Please let me know if there's anything more we can provide you with to help get geared up for the new season of Catch.
Thank you!
Soumik Pal
Digital Media, Discovery Channel
Discovery Communications
John asked the lawyers who contacted him about Soumik Pal's email:
When I questioned this with Discovery I was told only the employee no longer worked at Discovery and they "were looking in to this". The second lawyer I spoke to from Discovery stated that they had a change of heart and have now decided they wanted to police any sites using their material (Although previously they were providing it for promotion purposes).Again, a change of heart is fine -- but sending the lawyers to deliver it with threats? That seems ridiculous. It's a way to turn a bunch of fans into people who will never want to have anything to do with The Discovery Channel again. It's a case study in exactly how not to deal with social media.
Oh, and it gets worse. Beyond the basic trademark threat of the domain name, Discovery's lawyers claimed that John was committing copyright infringement by embedding official videos from the show's YouTube account on his website. I'm not kidding. The Discovery Channel has an official YouTube channel, where it uploads videos and has embedding turned on. So, not surprisingly, John has embedded some of these official clips on his site. I'm about to do the same. This is the last video that John posted:
The one issue that I really question is that part of the claim made by Discovery was that my "...display of and/or provision of access to unauthorized copies of our client's copyrighted material infringes Discovery's copyrights..." The material in question were actually videos that were posted BY DISCOVERY on YOUTUBE where the embed code was made available for all to use. I spoke to one of the lawyers briefly on the phone today and he understood how this could be confused but maintained that even though the code is there you are NOT ALLOWED TO USE THE EMBED CODE ON ANY WEBSITE.Frankly, this whole thing screams of some seriously mistaken or confused lawyers associated with The Discovery Channel, who not only seem to be completely out of touch and clueless as to how the internet works, but aren't even talking to the marketing people involved. These lawyers are actively undermining the show's own marketing efforts, pissing off fans, and closing down a large and popular fan group of the site with highly questionable legal claims.
Unfortunately, it looks like John is giving in to the lawyers. He's said that the site will disappear as of August 11th, and the Discovery Channel will take over the domain. Again, I can understand the potential for some confusion with the domain name, but there were much better ways for Discovery to handle this. Perhaps The Discovery Channel is taking the concept of its famous Shark Week way too far, and turning its lawyers into sharks. They should watch out, as when you let the sharks loose on your biggest fans, they can come back to bite you.
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Filed Under: copyright, deadliest catch, discovery, social media, trademark
Companies: discovery channel
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Stones
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Re: Stones
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Re: Re: Stones
Bingo. You might be totally in the right, but proving that in court in the US is often a pyrrhic victory.
OTOH, this is why I get so upset with sites like youtube that will honor a 'DMCA takedown' that's written on a cocktail napkin in crayon. They've got lawyers who should know better.
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Re: Stones
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Re: Stones
No matter how right the principle, nobody is obligated to be a hero. And at the end of the day it's hard not to respect their decision, even if it is nice when you do see people fight in these situations.
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Never again
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Re: Never again
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Re: Never again
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2) Lobby congress for compulsory licensing to prop up your now fan-less and failing business.
3) Profit!
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Resist...
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Re: Resist...
You only have to pay money if they actually take you to court. And they won't, because they don't do that to people who stand up to them.
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Subject
Their lawyer was probably a bit bored proofreading contracts and spending most of their time playing golf every day. The bored lawyer decides that he is not making enough money and wants to make himself actually appear useful to the company, so he seized a golden DMCA opportunity to requisition the corporation a large fee for going after, taking down and successfully winning against a copyright infringer (even though they allowed it to happen).
You see, to the lawyer it doesn't matter if he alienated hundreds/thousands of fans of the show turning them off forever. What matters is that the lawyer gets paid a handsome fee from the corporation. In the meantime the corporation actually achieved absolutely nothing except having paid out X-thousands of dollars to their lawyer, and have also created a lot of negative publicity for themselves and have alienated hundreds/thousands of fans.
It doesn't matter. They've won, The Discovery Channel paid their lawyer handsomely, and in the end the lawyer is smiling with a successful DMCA case on his resume which increases his value and fees in the future. GO LAWYER!
Yep. That's what it's all about folks. The DMCA was designed by lawyers to make lawyers filthy rich. The corporations are left holding the bills for a large percentage of lawsuits that don't actually pay out or achieve anything, they absorb all of the negative publicity, and they alienate their customers for life.
But who cares, the lawyers get paid no matter what...right? That's the power of the DMCA. It doesn't actually stop piracy, it doesn't actually help corporations to recover their "lost" profits, it doesn't even help make corporations richer. What it does do is make lawyers greedier and filthy rich.
If I was a media corporation I'd be thinking, "F*ck the people. They're nothing but cash withdrawal machines to me!"
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*turns off my cable*
Maybe my little bit isn't worth it to them, but maybe it will catch on with others.
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I don't understand why the owner of the domain has decided to just hand over the domain, though. That seems... beyond necessary. Wonder how long before the show's website stops linking to it?
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Go complain.
http://corporate.discovery.com/contact/viewer-relations/
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DiscoveryTV's channel on YouTube is a marketing presence, full of revenue-generating ads and promotions of its other shows and other revenue streams. The second somebody repurposes the content outside the visual context of that presence, it can affect potential revenue. Discovery Channel is simply protecting its revenue. No surprise to me one bit. Move on.
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Re:
If you are an idiot and say it is ok to embed your video when you don't want them to, admit your mistake and ask them politely to remove it before you sue them. Or be a complete ass because you are bigger than them and can bully them and make enemies of your customers that used to be comming to you from his site. No surprise to me either. Stop to laugh at them before you move on.
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KP is not a lawyer
DiscoveryNetworks (DN) relies on content to drive advertising and related revenue. (Yes, I do know how the Internet works. I asked Al Gore ;-) ) People go to that YouTube channel to watch DN content. DN people build an experience around the content on the YouTube site (not just within the video) to promote other programs and push ad impressions. Showing copyrighted content on another site takes away DN's ability to monetize it that way.
Do we know all the facts here? Are we sure that the the first contact that DN had with DeadliestCatchTV.com was by a bunch of asshole lawyers waving a C&D order in the admin's face?? I don't know -- does anybody else know? If it was, that was a piss-poor way to handle things. DN had a chance to 1) do it nicely and save face, and 2) listen to DCTV.com and learn about how better to inform and manage copyrighted material, by removing things like embed tags to discourage re-purposing content.
re: the comments that equate YouTube to public domain, please Google "youtube video id" and/or "youtube claimed copyright". This could (or should!) be at play here, but I don't know for sure -- and again, DN and YouTube/Google should make reuse policies clearer regardless.
Perhaps the best solution here is for Google/YouTube to ditch hosting sites like DN, because just about everybody equates YouTube to mean copyright-free. Google could simply clone and rebrand the YT technology as some other site, take away default embed tags, add disclaimers, etc., beef up the analytics, and still give content publishers an easy channel to promote themselves and monetize.
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Re: KP is not a lawyer
Thats somewhat true, except no one just stumbles upon their youtube channel, they go there because they found a video that they liked (either on youtube.com or from an embedded one) and clicked the link to the channel contained therein. Plus only the most hardcore fans will actually go to the seperate youtube channel. Most everyone will just watch on youtube, which doesn't have any more ads than the embedded one does.
There is nothing wrong with keeping your copyrights if you post it on youtube, but you shouldn't be able to post it on youtube, and then sue someone for using youtube to view it. Embedding, is not copying anything at all, but is just a link to youtube. Anyone viewing the video is getting it from youtube and not from your site. That is how embedding works. I don't see how it could possibly infringe on any copyrights at all. I could see if he was posting a seperate copy of the video, or possibly an altered one, but a link is a link and not a copy, if there were access restrictions in place to make the DMCA laws apply, maybe also a different story. There weren't. You cant post something on youtube to be viewed for free and complain when someone links to it, thats uninformed IMHO, and the only reason they get away with it is because it's too difficult to stand up for your rights.
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Re: KP is not a lawyer
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Re: Re: KP is not a lawyer
The whole 'embedding is not copyright' issue is indeed debatable, and people will probably not be convinced that it is 100% right or wrong -- it's very polarizing and multifaceted. Just Google it and read a few articles -- it will raise anyone's hackles....
If you were only re-using the content that DN gave you via Mr. Pal, then I say the lawyers were double-assholes. If you embedded DN content directly from YouTube, then it's time for the lawyers to sort out what embedding really means, especially because DN clearly believes that they're getting ripped off because it's copyrighted content and they are too stupid to realize that YouTube's Terms of Service is generally slanted toward free-for-all embedding and open for all sorts of interpretations.
Bad choice again for DN to use YouTube if it really wanted to protect its content. And too bad for you for being caught in the middle of a lawyer's game, where they're the only ones making money....
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Re: Re: Re: KP is not a lawyer
I wasn't trying to make any assumptions about the morality of embedded links, or whether or not they *should* be covered by copyright, just that it is not copying.
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Re: Re: KP is not a lawyer
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Re: Re: KP is not a lawyer
and discuss this matter with it as Discovery is subject to the Youtube terms of use.
2. Marketing at Discovery is calling the shots, so were I you I would contact it again, explain that your site is a fan site that has embedded videos links precisely as authorized by Google/Youtube, and then see if the two you might be able to reach some sort of an agreement where the company would recognize the benefit of your site as a marketing tool that promotes the show at no cost to the company. Frankly, only a "tool" in marketing, or so ist seems to me, would fail to realize the benefits that can be realized.
3. I cannot stress enough...marketing is calling the shots. Win it over and the lawyers, both outside and inside the company, will be given a new set of marching orders.
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Re: Re: KP is not a lawyer
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Re: KP is not a lawyer
Oh, but then they might loose the total impact of VIRAL MARKETING ON THE WEB that YouTube helps facilitate, as well as the embed code option. The internet is for SHARING content. That's why you build your ads in video format. DUH.
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Re: Re: KP is not a lawyer
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Re: KP is not a lawyer
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They're taking me to court and trying to force me to hand over anidiotabroad domain bahahaha IF YOU'RE NOT FAST, YOU'RE LAST!
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Re:
I normally charge $500 per user to access these comments, even if I (apparently mistakenly) put them out for free access. The second you repurpose this comment it can affect my potential revenue. I am simply protecting my revenue. No surprise to me one bit.
Please pay up immediately.
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Re: @KP
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Is KP a lawyer?
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Is KP a lawyer?
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Re: Is KP a lawyer?
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As a diehard fan...
I am hopeful that Discovery is allowing lawyers to run all aspects of their business so they can appreciate the full effect of this kind of idiocy.
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But the remainder should not be a problem.
1. You cannot hand people press materials meant to publish, and retroactively recall it. You obviously gave 'em a license to use the materials, you don't get to make that demand. This is how the press can use press materials in the first place - if whole editions of print would have to be recalled, that would be impossible to work with.
2. Heh, try to pass off embed as a copyright violation. It clearly is not. Discovery channel allowed Google to publish the video like this(!) and ergo you were allowed to use the video as Google, Discovery Channel's publisher allowed it. Even if that were not the case, hot-linking would not be necessarily prohibited and simple linking always be allowed.
No reason to get scared over the rest and definitely reason to protest this (I say willfully wrong) interpretation of the situation, but the domain name will have to be handed over.
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Re:
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Re: Complaining
--------
Your C&D notification to deadliestcatchtv.com was destructive. You supported their website for a long time prior to the takedown, which could (will?) lead to a boycott of your channel(s) - I, for one, will (a) no longer watch any shows on your network, and (b) spread the word about what happened, and encourage my friends to do the same.
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Re: Re: Complaining
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Subject
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No news like...
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Contact
I'm sure if they get enough people leaving a message there, stating that they will cancel service if Discovery keeps doing this, that they will stop.
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taking care of discovery's youtube problem
1) every user with an youtube or google account should go to: http://www.youtube.com/safety_help
2) hit report harassment - for myself (if you feel harassed by discovery. In this case, i know i am feeling harassed by their moronic lawyers, even if indirectly. Being threatened to be sued for embedding ANY youtube video that was posted with this intent is practically harassment.)
3) select the second option "one of the following" / "# A user is threatening me on the site. "
4) fill in one of the many usernames that discovery channel is using on youtube (e.g. "DiscoveryNetworks" in this case)
5) select the option "...has created a video to harass me"
6) select some of the videos that have the allow embed option turned on (practically all of them are)
btw, youtube allows max 5 videos to be selected.
7) select to block user from contacting you (not that they would care)
8)for the "additional notes" field enter some text along the lines of:
"
Discovery's lawyers are abusing Youtube's terms of service and are threatening to sue users that embed videos posted by them here on youtube with the embed option turned on. See: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100808/00114510538.shtml
"
(feel free to copy&paste that text if you're lacking inspiration)
9) hit the continue button
if enough users report discovery's accounts they won't have any more problems with youtube simply because they won't have any more accounts here.
/sarcasm
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Now the ship is going down.
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Discovery's silence
Sad.
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Re: Discovery's silence
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RE: KP is definitely not a lawyer
All of those link to cases where a copyrighted work is placed on youtube by someone other than the rights holder; that and some pornography, silly internet. No links to cases such as this.
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Re: RE: KP is definitely not a lawyer
"...Copyright holders can choose what they want done with their videos: whether to block, promote, or even—if a copyright holder chooses to partner with us—create revenue from them, with minimal friction. YouTube Video ID will help carry out that choice...." (from YouTube's Video ID info)
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When Discovery Network uploaded a video to YouTube and enabled embedding, they granted users like John a license to embed the video as he did.
It in no way is copyright infringement.
Discovery Network's lawyers should read YouTube's Term of Service: http://www.youtube.com/t/terms
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I noticed this evening that the site is now gone. When I went to my favorites and hit that link, it directed me to the Discovery Channel's "official" fan page. Obviously it's been taken over by Discovery.
Sorry. Not interested.
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Re:
Sorry, but actions speak louder than words and you obviously don't.
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Re: Re:
If you enjoy the fan site, I hope you get a new domain name and stick with it. They should be grateful for people like you.
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RE: Discovery Channel
Did you miss the part where your site linked to his site, and brought it up in your frames? Maybe you should not wrap every site you link to.
Appears you are committed to backtracking and looking like complete, well-rounded, asshats. We can help you find other social mediums if you need to continue spouting rhetoric only you believe.
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"confusingly similar....infringe on our trademarks....protect our brands"
seems they will soon fall on their own spear.
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Does anyone at Discovery have ANY common sense?
You're off my DVR list until you:
1) Apologize publicly for using Lawyer Bully tactics when if you were REALLY concerned about the trademark issue, you could have just approached Mr.White and NICELY explained the trademark problem and asked him to rename his site.
2) Publicly admit that Discovery's featuring his site, then cluelessly C&Ding him was "an asshat lawyer dipshit move".
3) Make your dipshit attorney publicly apologize for claiming that Mr. White was not allowed to embed the You-Tube video clips on his site. He needs to say "I acted stupidly, without regard for the truth and due diligence". Then fire the cretin.
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Not all sites targeted?
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deadest catch????
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miss you Phill Harris
greetings from Wietze
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miss you Phill Harris
greetings from Wietze
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pop up fan window
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Deadliest Catch Fan Site Takedown
How rude and mean spirited it is to be like, "I own it all and you can't touch it" attitude that is the same as a sandbox in preschool.You seriously think revenue is affected? How dumb.
Even if it was, how could you care without being partly retarded? It gets more eyes that way, increasing popularity, hence increasing overall revenue in turn, dummy.
You take our enjoyment, remove our respect for you and your show because of it, and this is what you really get.
More people talking down about how you really operate..
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