HELP: Stolen video (music) on youtube; what to do?

[Matthew N.]

Hello,

This is a first to me, meaning that someone has literally stolen the entire video of mine without any attribution and whatnot. I did some research already so I am not writing this without any kind of knowledge, so here's my problem.

The video I am referring to is my and Warbalist's EQD-featured VIP of also my Becoming Popular mix. Since the only way to report a copied video is through copyright claim, that poses a huge issue: the song itself uses copyrighted material that has been allowed for creative use by Hasbro.inc, meaning that technically the video and song itself are mine, but I do not own any sort of copyrights to it. Unfortunately youtube's only policy on stealing videos, artwork, music etc. is through copyright claims, which is quite sad, to be honest.

What should I do? Any suggestions on how to proceed and make sure that guy gets taken down, or at least my video does?

Please help,
Matthew.

[Dr_Dissonance]

I dunno about copyright and all that with this, but I've seen peer pressure hit people a lot on youtube. Y'know, the author(s) writing in the comments that this is stolen and many many other people doing the same thing, with lots of dislikes etc etc. I've seen people mend their ways once a large enough group of people tell them NO!

[prettiestPony]

Did you try contacting the uploader directly and explaining in polite, firm tones that you don't want other people putting your music up on YouTube?

[Matthew N.]

Did you try contacting the uploader directly and explaining in polite, firm tones that you don't want other people putting your music up on YouTube?

I personally didn't, but when a friend of mine did, the "person" involved in stealing and renaming the video insulted him and even entire societies (e.g. "F*** English and America") in 5 comments, then blocked the comments for the video.

The guy even claims to be a troll.

[FLAOFEI]

Wow, your in quite the pickle there :/
I would have said ask politley then spam the shit out of him... But since he wrote he was a troll I doubt that would help.
Only thing I can say is notify the watchers with a coment like "Thank you for watching this video, but the contents are stolen without permision. Pleas watch the official video instead /watch=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
Then just hope it makes top-coment and that the uploader dosnt disable the coments.

Thats the best I can think of anyway, good luck.

(also, you should be proud! this is a problem only the big boys have!)

[Makkon]

See all of this? This is exactly what he wants. It was a mistake trying to talk to him. Do not make any further contact with him, it's a waste of time and obviously what he wants from you. You can't reason with him.
Just file the copyright claim, youtube will not get after you for any reason. They only investigate claims to copyright infringement, not their own suspicion. That's the best you can do.

[MRPPony]

Honestly, this happens all the time to everyone. It also happened to me after spending nearly all day writing the bass tabs for CaramellDansen rock cover and someone took it, copied it, and took all credit for tabbing it. The only thing with you is the fact that you have a bunch of people who are fans of your music and obviously know that other guy isn't the creator of it.

Honestly, if you were "just another brony", it'd be a pretty big problem but you're not. So just trust your fan-base to correct anyone who believes someone did something you actually did.

[Matthew N.]

Only thing I can say is notify the watchers with a coment like "Thank you for watching this video, but the contents are stolen without permision. Pleas watch the official video instead /watch=XXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

He/she disabled the comments, so nothing will go through anyway.

See all of this? This is exactly what he wants. It was a mistake trying to talk to him. Do not make any further contact with him, it's a waste of time and obviously what he wants from you. You can't reason with him.
Just file the copyright claim, youtube will not get after you for any reason. They only investigate claims to copyright infringement, not their own suspicion. That's the best you can do.

I know I can't reason with a troll, but that's not the issue here. I do not know much about copyrights and I admit that, but is it legal and my right to make a copyright claim to something that already uses copyrighted material (vocals from MLP, hence owned by Hasbro)? As I said, I technically do not own the entire piece, even though Warbalist and I put everything together on our own.

Moreover, those two entries for the youtube copyright claim are problematic for me:
∗ Copyright Owner Name (Company Name if applicable)
Claimant information will be published on the YouTube site in place of disabled content.
What should I enter here? My name? Hasbro?

∗ Your Title or Job Position (What is your authority to make this complaint?)
And here I am completely clueless what to enter, to be honest.

I really don't want to risk getting my account closed after so many years for making a "bad" copyright claim.

Honestly, if you were "just another brony", it'd be a pretty big problem but you're not. So just trust your fan-base to correct anyone who believes someone did something you actually did.

That's very nice of you to say, thank you very much.

[Warbalist]

Wow. People spend so much time doing this kind of thing, it's ridiculous.

[XXDarkShadow79XX]

I thought you could flag a video for stolen content?

[Matthew N.]

I thought you could flag a video for stolen content?

You can, but it is under the copyright claims. As I said, youtube policy on stolen content is based on copyright claims.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Why aren't you making the copyright claim in the first place? YouTube aren't liable to put you under suspicion for a remix of Hasbro. Fair use+It's Hasbro's incentive to or not to flag this stuff. As soon as you make a claim, YouTube removes the video, and only if the uploader makes a counter-claim against it will they investigate. That's how the DMCA works.

[Matthew N.]

Well, I submitted the copyright claim. I'd be really pissed if my account gets terminated, though.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Well, I submitted the copyright claim. I'd be really pissed if my account gets terminated, though.

Please. The most they'll do is pull the audio from the video, and the chances of that are unlikely. Fair use.

[Matthew N.]

Ok, still no response from youtube other than confirmation on my claim submission. Does anyone know how long before I receive an answer from them?

[Navron]

Alright, here's the short scoop of what I know regarding copyright law and DMCA, because right now you're actually on the crappy end of YouTube's DMCA process.

When YouTube receives your claim, the stolen video will get taken down. At this point, the uploader can file a counter-claim to reinstate the video, however, they do so at a big risk:

After we send out the counter-notification, the claimant must then notify us within 10 business days that he or she has filed an action seeking a court order to restrain you from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on YouTube. If we receive such notification we will be unable to restore the material. If we do not receive such notification, we may reinstate the material.

If this person files a counter-notification, you have 10 business days to file a court action. Otherwise the video will be reinstated.

Now, here's where legal gets tricky:

You may not own, "all of the material," in your song, but you do own more material in the song than the person who reuploaded it. Thus, if you were to seek legal action, you would be seeking legal action for the parts of the song that are owned by you.

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Matthew N.]

Well, I wouldn't go as far as a lawsuit for an amateur music piece. All I want is for the copied video to get taken down, and so far it hasn't (and it's been quite a few hours). What may be the reason for that?

[Navron]

He may have already filed a counter-claim. Have you checked the status of your original claim?

[Matthew N.]

No, he/she didn't make a counter-claim. The thing is that I should have received a confirmation on the copied video being taken down (via email) a few minutes after making the claim, but all I received was a confirmation on the submission.

[Matthew N.]

Over 24 hours without any sort of response from youtube. I am 100% certain that they received the ticket, but I never received confirmation that the video has been taken down (and I should have.)

[Lavender_Harmony]

Be patient, the majority of YouTube is run by robots, and this sort of stuff takes time to get processed.

[Matthew N.]

Be patient, the majority of YouTube is run by robots, and this sort of stuff takes time to get processed.

I certainly hope so, because after watching a few videos on that subject and reading a few posts here and there it should have been almost instant.

[CommandSpry]

in my professional opinion, you should kil himselve

alternatively, flag for copyright infrigement.

[Matthew N.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNBwOEEIoOI

So far so good. Thanks for help, ladies and gents.