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It is no secret that many serious YouTube content creators are often frustrated with YouTube and how its Content ID system works. More often than not, completely legitimate videos are taken down over false DMCA claims and it can really mess with a channel and its standing on YouTube.
One YouTuber appears to have had enough and is now attempting to take on Google, among others, over the Content ID system. In a lawsuit filed at the US District Court in Rhode Island, Benjamin Ligeri has listed Google, Viacom, Lionsgate and even another YouTuber as defendants in the lawsuit, complaining about how unfairly copyright concerns are handled by the current YouTube system.
Ligeri has been uploading to YouTube channel, BetterStream, for some time now but has not amassed much of an audience with just over 300 subscribers. He claims that his channel has come under fire from YouTube's copyright system a few times even though Ligeri claims that his content is intended for “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and/or research” purposes.
One of the complaints detailed in the lawsuit takes fellow YouTuber, Egeda Pirateria, to task for a copyright claim on a parody video, making fun of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: “Defendant Pirateria is not the rightful owner of the rights to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, nor did the Plaintiff’s critique of it amount to copying or distribution of the movie”.
The main issue seems to stem from a copyright strike tied to the BetterStreams account, which YouTube refused to remove following an appeal: “YouTube, although Defendants Pirateria or Lion’s Gate lacked any legal claim to any copyright to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, denied the Plaintiff’s appeal pertaining to his account’s copyright strike”.
Viacom was dragged in to the lawsuit due to a DMCA claim on a video supposedly critiquing the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot movie. Ligeri describes Content ID as an “opaque and proprietary system where the accuser can serve as the judge, jury and executioner”.
While some of Ligeri's claims may be true and many content creators would probably agree that the Content ID system is notoriously unfair, there is no skirting around the fact that his most popular YouTube video shows an entire Hunger Games movie, albeit with commentary placed over the top. Due to this, it is hard to believe that a court is going to take the plaintiff's side in this case.
Ligeri wants what all lawsuit instigators want- a payout. He is seeking $1 million in ‘special damages', an additional $10,000 for nominal damage and an unspecified additional amount for punitive damages and legal fees.
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KitGuru Says: Considering that this lawsuit is coming from a non-established channel, with an entire film uploaded to it, it is hard to take any of it seriously. That said, he does raise some good points, there is a lot genuinely wrong with the way YouTube handles copyright and the Content ID system as a whole. I'm not sure this lawsuit is going to help matters much, although it may raise awareness of the issue.
Source: TorrentFreak
Sure he probably brings up some good points but at the end of the day Ligeri just a dude who wanted to get popular, didn’t, then pushed the blame on someone else rather than his crap content in attempt to get the money he is “owed”
Just imagine if he has to pay their costs.
What a tool…
What the fuck I wish someone with some legitimate claim would try this so it might god somewhere. And those damages for 300 subscribers? Is he high?
Google just send in their 300 lawyers or buy the judge a small island near the bahama’s.
Cant fight the suits and law system anymore these days as its all corruption and capitalism.
We won’t have to imagine…he ain’t got a hope in fuck of winning!
IMO; this is just some guy who wanted to be big, but he failed and then threw a temper tantrum about it blaming the corporations and “bullshit copyright ids”.
People like to put the blame on YouTube’s copyright system being jack. That may be so, but these people have been complaining about it since 2009-ish or so; we’re never gonna get rid of them. So why bother trying to sue them?
Another problem I have is who he chose to sue; Google is a billion dollar company that basically owns the internet (especially YouTube.) And Viacom is the owner of a million channels; Do you expect them to take this guy seriously?
And Lionsgate? Seriously? That company is so out of right field. What would they have to do with any of this? They aren’t nearly as notorious as Viacom or Nintendo are; so why bother dragging them in?
Finally; and I really need to stress this. YouTube is not your mother; it will not defend your copyrighted stuff. If you use copyrighted stuff, you risked getting it taken down. This is a risk that you need to accept to survive in the world of YouTube, Fair use is determined by the court. I’m sorry; but there is no way that you are going to win this case. Good day to you sir.
google, parent of youtube has been fairly accused for monopoly tactics around the global web. this nazi-copyrightland system is wrong. you pay for something ? (dvd, movie, music) then you can do whatever you want with it, is your property. resale it, upload it, copy it, burn it, eat it, send it to space. even if a pixel or a line is different, it will never be the same as the original, even they sell copies NOT the original work. copyright is thin air fake phrase