• Disney retracts copyright claim on a YouTuber’s “Steamboat Willie” video, allowing it to be monetizable and shareable worldwide.
• The claim had previously demonetized the video and restricted its visibility and embedding options.
• This move by Disney may signal its recognition of “Steamboat Willie” being in the public domain.
I’m having a hard time comprehending how this is a “win” when Disney had to voluntarily retract their claim with Youtube.
The short is in public domain. It is the goddamn motherfucking law. Disney does not have any say in the matter. We should not, and in fact do not, have to rely on them being “nice.” Not anymore. That’s the point.
Fuck them, in the ear, with an egg beater.
The law is only as powerful as people are willing to enforce it.
Just because it’s a “goddamn motherfucking law” doesn’t mean shit if powerful corporations are willing to spend unholy amounts of money to make you prove it in court.
The “Happy Birthday” song was believed to be in the public domain for centuries but Warner Brothers was able to convince people to just pay them a license fee in order to prevent going to court. It was only in 2016 that a court ruled that it was in the public domain.
So yeah…Disney could have been real douches about this. But they are, uncharacteristically, being nice about it.
But they are, uncharacteristically, being nice about it.
I think it’s indicative of Disney’s character that this worries me more than anything else.
I’m actually not too worried about it. A lot of people were watching the whole “Steamboat Willie” copyright sunsetting with great interest since it was what drove Disney to lobby congress to push legislation to protect it.
So there would have been a pretty large outcry if Disney decided to sue people for it, especially after it had expired. Given the fact that they are already fighting PR battles with DeSantis and the “anti-woke” crowd, they are probably being pragmatic and not fighting a battle that they’d pretty much lose in court as well as in public opinion.
If I’m looking at dates correctly, Disney filed the strike AFTER it was in the public domain already. So it was a bullshit strike from the beginning, not just something that was struck before it entered the public domain and was left over.
The DMCA needs to be updated with fines for clear bullshit claims like this. As it is, there is no penalty for a company to just claim everything. I’d even be okay with platforms like Youtube receiving a portion of that fine for having to be in the middle of the bullshit copyright claims that were overturned because. Give the platforms an incentive to make the process streamlined and straight forward instead of the crap we have now.
I’d even be okay with platforms like Youtube receiving a portion of that fine for having to be in the middle of the bullshit copyright claims that were overturned because
YouTube is legally obligated to take the content down as soon as they receive the DMCA notice or else YouTube will become liable for potential damages. YouTube’s automated copyright claim system is inherently broken, but that’s a symptom of DMCA, not the cause.
The DMCA needs to be updated with fines for clear bullshit claims like this.
A fine is useless if the default is that the request is granted, which platforms like YT are more or less forced to do since you can submit thousands of request at no cost. Add a security deposit (and punitive damages in case of bogus requests) for each and every request and maybe you solve the problem.
Disney, or anyone for that matter, can copyright claim any video. Youtube just plays ball because that’s the simplest thing to do.
It’s on them to prove, in court, that it actually is copyrightable and that they own the copyright to the content, which they’d fail to do.
The win is for the uploader and for the public, since now you can “be sure” that Disney won’t take you to court over it, which would be a costly endeavor for you. Even if Disney would almost surely lose.
I think people misunderstand this and that you explained it well. It wasn’t a court that struck down the video, it was YouTube. I’m not sure though what American law has to say about monolithic platforms like YouTube and hosting public domain content.
Maybe the creator was in a SLAPP state and Disney was going to be paying for their lawyers anyway.
Afraid it doesn’t apply to copyright claims, but I might be wrong on that
Well, damn it, it should. That’s a prime example of an abusive suit, with media companies holding all the cards and quite willing to toss takedowns over the wall if the recipients are too afraid or poor to fight obviously baseless claims.
