Rumblefish CEO: Claiming Copyright On Your Incidental Recordings Of Birds Was Merely A Series Of Unfortunate Errors
from the that-just-happen-to-profit-us dept
Following Rumblefish claiming copyright via YouTube's ContentID system (and putting ads on the video to monetize it) of a guy's nature video because the birds singing in the background sounded too much like a Rumblefish-licensed track, Rumblefish's CEO has gone into PR crisis mode, setting up an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit to address the story. While he gets a smidgen of kudos for the funny title of it:I'm the CEO of Rumblefish, I guess we're the newest up and coming bird music licensing company - I'm also a copyright, music licensing, entrepreneur guy. Ask me anything.the details aren't leaving many satisfied. The key explanation is basically that it was a "series of unfortunate errors":
Here's what happened. YT ID'd a song in our catalog improperly, it was disputed, one of our content ID reps re-instated the claim mistakenly. The issue was brought to our attention b/c of a post tonight. We reviewed the video, I watched it myself, and it was clearly a mistake. We released the claim on Sunday eve a few hours after our mistake came to our attention. That's what happened.This is, almost certainly, an accurate reflection of the specific events, but hardly touches on the key error. That the Rumblefish rep re-instated the video "mistakenly." Remember, this was a nature video. There was no music. No one who watched the actual video would think that it involved someone taking "bird songs" off of some Rumblefish licensed track and placing it on the video.
We review a substantial amount of claims every day and the number is increasing significantly. It's been rather challenging. We have millions of videos now using our songs as soundtracks and keeping up is getting harder and harder.
Separately, this highlights an ongoing problem that we've discussed concerning YouTube's ContentID program. While it has been a great way to enable copyright holders to make money from content uploaded by others, it also can (and often is) abused to either take down content or to monetize someone else's content.
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Filed Under: birds, content id, copyright
Companies: google, rumblefish, youtube
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What RF owes
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Like Charlotte Church's comment
Another case of "we are terribly sorry...that we got caught"
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And so what....
So why be so harsh when some automated tool at YouTube went kablooie? It's just a mistake and it looks like it will be fixed. Quit being so harsh.
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This 'mistake' argument would never hold for anyone else who infringes, IP extremist lawyers would sue them into the ground, so they should be given the same exact merciless and unforgiving treatment that IP extremists are quick to give anyone they suspect of infringement. They should be fined hundreds of thousands, I have no sympathy for them just like IP extremists have no sympathy for those who infringe and demand ridiculous sums of money.
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And that's not really too surprising - they weren't about to turn anti-DMCA or anything. But why do an AMA if they have nothing to say? I guess they just heard "that's what people do..."
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Re: And so what....
I'll quit being so harsh when IP extremist lawyers quit being so harsh about suing those who (accidentally or purposely) infringe into the ground with hundreds of thousands in fines. This mistake argument doesn't hold for infringers, why should it hold for IP extremists?
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I personally do wonder...
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The sooner we get rid of all CopyWrong (and patent) laws the better off we'll all be.
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Oh Look...
I hear you saying that the situation current copyright law puts you in is untenable and that you would like to see comprehensive copyright reform take place. I applaud you for your progressive attitude when so many in your industry are focused on backwards, money-grubbing punishment schemes that harm the artist and the consumer alike. Thanks also for your heartfelt apology and pledge to never let this sort of thing happen ever again - that sort of thing, when it's sincere, really goes a long way towards establishing a positive relationship with consumers.
Oh wait...you say the only copyright reform you want is more copyright and you didn't actually apologize or pledge to do better? In that case it's a solo bird salute to you. Stop trying to get ahead of the story and spin it and start fixing the problem or you're just another asshole in a vast sea of them.
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Re: What RF owes
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Re: Re: And so what....
One interesting Slashdot comment
"The *PROBLEM* is that Rumblefish is claiming copyright on other people's work. That's completely unacceptable--it's piracy. And that's what needs to be stopped."
Posted by im_thatoneguy
But will Rumblefish get slammed for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars for an act worse than infringement? Of course not, they get the high court treatment. Had it been anyone else ...
This is unacceptable. I want Rumblefish to pay hundreds of thousands in fines, period. They should at least pay what someone who infringes could pay in fines. Infringement damages are fake and imaginary, the damages caused by bogus takedown requests and claims like this by Rumblefish are real and empirical and Rumblefish does not deserve the high court treatment, they deserve serious punishment like us commoners.
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Fishing for Rumblefish....
tweet chirp tweet-tweet chirp-chirp-chirp-tweet chirp-chirp chirp-chirp chirp-tweet-chirp chirp-chirp-tweet-chirp chirp-chirp-tweet tweet-tweet-chirp-chirp-chirp-tweet chirp chirp chirp tweet-chirp chirp-chirp-tweet chirp tweet-chirp chirp-tweet chirp chirp chirp-tweet-chirp tweet-tweet-chirp-chirp-chirp-tweet chirp-tweet-chirp-chirp tweet chirp chirp-chirp tweet chirp-chirp-chirp tweet-chirp-chirp-chirp-tweet-chirp-chirp-chirp-tweet chirp-chirp-chirp-tweet tweet chirp
.
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Re: And so what....
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Re: And so what....
Now not only has the automated system failed, not really surprising, but when a human being supposedly reviewed the claim the copyright was again claimed with little or no recourse to the real owner of any copyright that may apply.
The only thing that actually got him is rights back is the fact that he got a bunch of publicity because he posted his complaint in the right places.
That's not how things should work.
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The real problem
As I have documented extensively on my website, www.fairusetube.org, the real problem here is that when Content ID makes a mistaken match, YouTube gives the copyright claimant the ultimate authority to decide whether to accept a user's dispute. When the copyright claimant inevitably denies the dispute, the YouTube user has no further recourse. Though Content ID was originally intended as a front-end to the DMCA notice and counter-notice process, once a content ID claim has been "confirmed" against you, you have absolutely no further way to dispute it--either through Content ID or the DMCA process. Copyright claimants thus get to be the judges of their own disputes--a system which is ripe for abuse.
I have documented this problem quite thoroughly on my website, along with many specific instances of blatant abuse by unethical companies using Content ID to steal ad revenue from videos they have no rights to. Please see http://fairusetube.org/youtube-copyfraud for more info.
It's time for YouTube to wake up and fix the problems with the Content ID system before someone sues them for facilitating copyright fraud!
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Just wondering...
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The perfect response
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/q7via/im_the_ceo_of_rumblefish_i_guess_were_the_newest/ c3vk67q
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I'm going to copyright silence and submitt it to Google Content ID
Oh, sure. I know you are going to point out that that song of silence is already copyrighted, but that was silent music. I'm going to copyright silent *speech*. Tooootally different.
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Re: Just wondering...
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Re: Re: And so what....
Exactly, there should be steep and easy to implement legal penalties for this. The legal system should quickly shut them down and cease their assets after repeat offenses, there should be a three strikes law or something.
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Re: The real problem
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120227/00152917884/guy-gets-bogus-youtube-copyright- claim-birds-singing-background.shtml#c93
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1) Whether removals are reviewed by a copyright attorney, or what level of training or qualifications are held by the reviewing employee.
2) What section of Rumblefish's catalogue resembled the bird songs.
3) How this incident is different from Rumblefish's 2009 snafoo where they forced a video to be taken down because it used a public domain album as background music (by an artist who has no dealings with Rumblefish).
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Re: Re: Re: And so what....
A: Their internal efforts. That failed.
B: The legal system. Too expensive and ineffective, plus penalties against this sort of behavior are either too low or don't exist.
C: Public outrage.
That public outrage has turned into a necessary resort to resolve these issues is unacceptable.
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Re: And so what....
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Re: Re: Re: Re: And so what....
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Re: What RF owes
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Re: And so what....
If the penalty for infringement was to say "I'm sorry", then no one would be harsh.
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Re: And so what....
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Re: Re: And so what....
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If they could...
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Re: The real problem
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Re: The real problem
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Re: Fishing for Rumblefish....
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Re: Fishing for Rumblefish....
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Re: Fishing for Rumblefish....
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Re: Fishing for Rumblefish....
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Re: Fishing for Rumblefish....
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rubblefish=rumblefish
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Its like Charlie Brown's teacher is talking.
Blah blah blah blah to many reports.
Blah blah blah blah sorry we got caught.
Blah blah blah blah to the interwebs to defend out name.
Blah blah blah blah won't let you know what it matched, secret systems are best.
Blah blah blah blah blah shift blame more to anyone but us.
Blah blah blah blah someone else has to protect our IP.
Blah blah blah blah blah no mention of reviewing anything else that employee reviewed and most likely mass claimed was infringing even if it wasn't.
Blah blah blah blah blah Google's fault.
Blah blah blah blah did I mention not our fault?
Blah blah blah blah blah complex issue.
Blah blah blah blah blah still all Google's fault, why won't you peons shut up your screwing our Google search results.
Blah blah blah blah blah you all just want to steal from us anyways.
Blah blah blah blah PR spin machine set to frappe.
I'd ask him did he really think that he was going to get out of this with a weak pr campaign?
When does he plan to review all other cases and discipline employees who never looked at the content to compare?
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Single mistake, one at a time, thousands of times
Every single one of those companies gets a one or more free bites at the apple. They call them honest mistakes, bugs in their software, or whatever and face no consequences whatsoever.
Meanwhile the targets of their "mistakes" get to deal with the "mistakes" one at a time.
There's real cost involved in dealing with "mistakes" like this, and the cost is shifted entirely on the innocent.
Saying you're sorry costs nothing. We should demand more than that.
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Re: What RF owes
They didn't earn anything, they stole it. This is theft and they should be treated like criminals.
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Re: Fishing for Rumblefish....
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Assuming of course that the process wasn't completely automated, in which case he, being the CEO and therefor the one ultimately in charge of the company would be the one getting the boot. Somehow I rather doubt he'd be willing to go that far.
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Re:
and that, almost makes him smart.. let's listen"
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Copyright birdsong
I thought the real problem is not the mistake in claiming someone else's recording as their own, but the fact that they are claiming copyright on birdsong.
I recognize that they can claim copyright on a specific recording of some birdsong, but my question is...how do you know that a recording is a copy of your recording and not just some other bird have a tweet?
I think that what i am saying is that the similarity of one birdsong recording is so similar to another that it puts a very heavy onus on checking prior to claiming someone has copied.
This sounds more like 'its birdsong therefore its ours' rather that a mistake in claiming copying.
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Re: And so what....
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Re:
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Re: Copyright birdsong
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Re: Copyright birdsong
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I do not see the "original work" within that copyright. So if I wanted to provide an income for the next 5 to 9 generations of my family, all I need to do is start recording every dog sound, every cat meow, as many frogs croaking as I can, crickets at night, turning on the tap, the shower, doors opening and closing, the sounds of making coffee in the morning ...
That's insane. I do not believe there is a copyright for those sounds and if there is - that deserves outrage and destruction.
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Perjury
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Re:
He wasn't playing dumb. That is exactly what happened. But leave it to an Anonymous Coward to state opinions used to induce further flaming. Anonymous coward posting is how you avoid being human, and not having to actually reach out to the company for comment as did I.
The CEO of Rumblefish is actually a rather nice guy, and is willing to respond to emails directly rather than have them funnel through channels where the message would surely get mangled.
All anonymous cowards are just that...cowards! If you can live with that fact, then so can I.
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Re: Re: Re: And so what....
The issue is with YouTube's system not Rumblefish. It was YouTube's copyright detection mechanism that reported it to Rumblefish, and then the human error of accepting what YouTube reported. That is just human laziness.
Rumblefish copyrights legitimate music and the likes, it doesn't scan the Internet looking for violations. It relies on clients reporting, however those may come.
One day...when you grow up and stop hiding behind the Anonymous Coward account, you will understand. Now get out there and sell some more magazine subscriptions for your den so you can win that bicycle.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: And so what....
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Re: Re: Re: And so what....
No..it was YouTube's "automated" copyright identity mechanism that reported it to Rumblefish.
You know the Internet is a big big place, filled with a lot of information. Maybe you should try doing some research before commenting. Who knows, you might even learn something.
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Re: Re: Re: And so what....
No..it was YouTube's "automated" copyright identity mechanism that reported it to Rumblefish.
You know the Internet is a big big place, filled with a lot of information. Maybe you should try doing some research before commenting. Who knows, you might even learn something.
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Re: Re: And so what....
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Re: Perjury
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Sound recording administered by: Rumblefish
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Royalty Free Music banned fro YouTube
Clark
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add this to every original video you publish
Song name:
Music composer:
Lyricist:
Publisher:
Music label (if any):
Rights owner’s name and contact information:
*Rumblefish and/or similar entities operating via Youtube.com Do Not Have copyright claims against this material. They are a licensee only. U.S. Copyright laws take president over any claims made by third parties in regards to this original material. Rumblefish and/or similar entities are not authorized to claim this material as original or derivative work.
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