YouTube Reinstates Metal Gear Video Konami Took Down, Warns Konami Not To Be Jerks

from the solid dept

Well, well. We had just been discussing Konami getting YouTube to take down a video it didn't like, one produced by YouTuber Super Bunnyhop, which discussed a supposed breakup between the gaming giant and famed game-producer Hideo Kojima. The excuse for the takedown was apparently something like half-a-minute's worth of game footage from the Metal Gear Solid franchise, a significant portion of which was simply one game's title screen. YouTube, with its content-makers friendly notice/takedown policy, complied with the takedown. Often times, that would be the end of the story. We'd all cry foul, complain that copyright sucks, and head on to the next story.

This time, however, is different. Super Bunnyhop challenged the takedown with a notice to Google and Google responded by both reinstating the video and warning Konami to stop screwing around. After reinstating the video, here is what YouTube sent to Konami.

It's a standard notice Google sends out when takedowns aren't on the level, but it's still nice to see. Not only does the letter let Konami know YouTube is concerned over the bullshit takedown, but it also helpfully gave the company a quick primer on fair use. There is some polite language requesting additional information should Konami still want to claim the video to be infringement, but any cursory glance ought to be enough to know that the whole thing falls under fair use. YouTube also sent Super Bunnyhop a notice that the video had been reinstated.

"This may be the first time YouTube has quickly stepped in and reviewed a bogus copyright claim for a gaming video,” [Super Bunnyhop] said to me over email. “If that’s the case, then my situation may be breaking new ground, and this could be good news for YouTubers everywhere.”

Yeah, there's actually no real new ground being broken here. YouTube sends these letters out all the time and it reinstates videos like this when the takedown is crap as well. That said, every fair use victory is a step in the right direction and it's worth reminding everyone out there that the takedown doesn't have to be the end of the story for non-infringing videos. Sometimes intellectual property is used for censorship and there is little anyone can do about it. But that's not always the case and it's important to fight it wherever possible.

Filed Under: censorship, dmca, hideo kojima, metal gear solid, super bunnyhop, takedowns, youtube
Companies: google, konami, youtube

Konami Gets YouTube To Take Down Video It Doesn't Like; Streisand Effect Ensures Neverending Discussion Of Video

from the well-that-didn't-work dept

I tend to be able to undestand when smaller companies, or perhaps younger companies, don't know and understand what the Streisand Effect is and how it works. You can write off this stuff sometimes to inexperience, even if you don't forgive the censorious actions themselves. But I think it's fair to say that Konami should know better than to think it could get away with disappearing a YouTube video it didn't like, yet that's exactly what Konami did.

Two weeks ago, George “Super Bunnyhop” Weidman published a YouTube video alleging he had information about the ongoing tension between Konami and Hideo Kojima. Now, it’s offline. (In case you missed the drama of the last few months, Kojima and Konami appear to be in the midst of a breakup, even as Kojima finishes work on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.)

Now, you can understand why Konami might not want a video about Metal Gear creator Kojima circulating just as the work on the latest iteration of the game series is due to be completed. After all, Kojima is well-known, very popular, and the news that there is some kind of rift between him and Konami might create doubt in customers' minds about just how much effort is going into this latest game. Add to that the notion that a public breakup with a popular game-designer can probably only hurt Konami's reputation and it's easy to get why the company would prefer all of this be buried.

And that's why taking down this video makes no sense. It not only gets a wider audience talking about the contents of the video, which have been put back up on another YouTube video, but it adds credibility to the claims made within it. After all, if this was all far-fetched speculative nonsense, Konami should have laughed the reports off, not used copyright to silence the video entirely. Use of game footage within the video is sparse at most, making all of this seem like a pure attempt at censorship using intellectual property, which, duh.

Based on Kotaku's reporting, it should be noted, this is almost certainly a manual takedown, as opposed to a Content ID grab.

There are two ways for a video to disappear from YouTube that doesn’t involve the creator deleting the video. One, there’s YouTube’s Content ID system, which scans videos for copyrighted material. Content ID, however, typically kicks in as soon as the video is uploaded, and wouldn’t normally bring a video down from the service two weeks later. It’s possible but unlikely, as all my interactions with Content ID have occurred very early in the process.

Two, a company purposely (and manually) issues a takedown notice, knowing YouTube will err on the side of rights holders, at least until the issue is resolved. During that time, the video is offline. Companies have used this tactic in the past to suppress videos they didn’t care for.

If the latter is the case with this takedown, it's quite a misunderstanding of the reaction to censorship of this kind in this day and age. Enjoy all the press that hated video is getting, Konami. You created it all, after all...

Filed Under: copyright, criticism, dmca, dmca takedown, george weidman, hideo kojima, metal gear solid, streisand effect, super bunny, takedown
Companies: konami, youtube

Head Transplant Doctor Ponders Likeness Lawsuit Over Supposed Appearance In Metal Gear Solid 5

from the losing-your-head dept

Look, I don't even know where to begin with this, so let's just dive right in. A trailer for the upcoming release of the latest game in the Metal Gear Solid series came out a while back and, for reasons I can't even begin to explain, a whole load of folks out there decided that a doctor that appeared in the trailer looked an awful lot like a real-life Italian doctor. But not just any doctor. This doctor is apparently working on achieving the first ever successful human-head transplant with spinal reconnection.

For almost a week now, some parts of the gaming internet have been going nuts over the visual similarities between the doctor that features in the trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and the controversial real-live Dr Sergio Canavero, the neurosurgeon who recently found sudden fame when he claimed that he was ready and able to perform the first human head transplant in medical history. He’s even found a prospective patient, a Russian called Valery Spirodonov, who suffers from a terminal muscle-wasting disease.

The images of the character and Canavero, when placed side-by-side, are certainly striking.

Apparently there have been people calling up Doctor Canavero and questioning him about his relationship to the game, of which he claims to have none. Those callers have been spurred on by all kinds of conspiracy theories being drawn up to explain the similarities. TED Talks by the doctor deal with some of the issues and language supposedly appearing in the MGS game, MGS creator Hideo Kojima has talked about how the new game will deal with controversial issues (head-transplants would probably count), and some have even made claims that the doctor isn't a real doctor and this is all just a media stunt (it isn't, Dr. Canavero is a real, published doctor).

Kotaku's UK site got Canavero on the phone and he claimed to have nothing to do with the game or Kojima. As it turns out, Konami used an actor for the character model in question and it's the actor that happens to resemble Canavero. In other words, it's just a weird coincidence. Except Dr. Canavero doesn't think so.

I pointed out his resemblance to the actor from whom Konami actually did the scanning for the three-dimensional model, but he tells me that his lawyer has suggested something different that involves a conference held in Cyprus:

"One of the sponsors was coincidentally a game developer. Maybe some people there...I don't know...maybe they recorded the thing from certain angles, maybe the cameras were set up in the right spots... I do not know. It's just a hypothesis, but maybe it's not too far-fetched."

Cavanero goes on to point out that this isn't such a bad thing, as he's raising money for his HEAVEN project (you know, the whole taking one person's head and sticking it on another person's body thing) and this has brought some additional notoriety to him. That makes this next bit more perplexing:

“I went to the Polizia Postale [the authority in charge of this kind of thing here in Italy] and filed a complaint towards Mr.Kojima. There is also a Twitter account that is not mine, so I reported this to the Police too, they will now investigate both the matters. In the meantime my lawyer is sending a letter to the Japanese company [Konami] to ask for compensation [for using my image without permission].”

Except that it wasn't his image, it was the image of an actor who resembles him. Some people look alike, for better or worse. In any complaint resulting in a court case, it would seem to me that Konami and Kojima need only trot in the actor around which they built the character model and that should be it. Why it should even have to get that far, considering that Cavanero can't stop talking throughout the interview about how beneficial this whole coincidence has been, is beyond me.

Filed Under: head transplant, hideo kojima, likeness, metal gear solid, publicity rights, sergio canavero
Companies: konami