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How YouTube copyright claims work from beginning to end

I've been seeing several misconceptions recently about the YouTube copyright process, Content ID, DMCA, etc and figured I'd make one master post explaining everything. If I'm missing something or have anything wrong, please inform me and I'll update this.

#####DMCA Notices
First, a little background on DMCA. This is a law passed by Congress in 1998 that, among other things, laid out rules for companies that host third party content. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act

Basically, if a company wants to not be held accountable for user content (i.e. YouTube doesn't want to be sued directly by content owners, like the massive [Viacom lawsuit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viacom_International_Inc._v._YouTube,_Inc.)), then they need to follow certain procedures. In particular, when a valid [notice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Notice_from_copyright_owner) is received, they must disable access to the content. They must also disable accounts if they're found to be "repeat infringers". This only applies if the complaint is sent in a very specific format, there's a list of things that must be included to make it into a "DMCA notice".

There's also a provision for disputes. The user who uploaded the content can send a "counter-notice" under the DMCA, which has several requirements as in the above link. The most relevant ones are:

>a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief the material was mistakenly taken down

>a statement consenting to the jurisdiction of your local US Federal District Court, or, if outside the US, to a US Federal District Court in any jurisdiction in which YouTube is found.

In other words, you're making a statement that your content should be left up and was taken down by mistake (whether that means no basis for the claim, or it's fair use, or anything else), and that you're accepting jurisdiction of a court on this issue. This is mostly irrelevant if you're a resident of the US, as you're already subject to the jurisdiction of your local court. It's more relevant if you're not a US resident and are possibly accepting more potential legal liability than you currently have.

After a counter-notice is sent, it is forwarded to the content owner who filed the original DMCA complaint, and they have 10 days to file a lawsuit. If they don't file any suits, then the DMCA complaint is automatically dismissed, and your content can be reinstated.

**To sum up, if a DMCA notice is sent the content is automatically taken down, if a DMCA counter-notice is sent the content is automatically put back up after 10 days *unless* the content owner files a lawsuit, in which case you fight it out in court.** These procedures are followed by many large companies, like eBay, Amazon, Twitter, etc.

#####Content ID claims
Now, YouTube decided to create a program to handle complaints without immediately involving the DMCA, called "Content ID". This is where a lot of the controversy comes from, as the vast majority of claims now come through Content ID and not DMCA (per https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7002106?hl=en it's less than 2% of claims that are DMCA). Anyone can still file a Copyright Strike/DMCA notice if they want, but now there's the option of filing a Content ID claim instead.

Content ID is only open to companies that have large amounts of copyrighted content: per https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797370?hl=en&ref_topic=2778544

> To be approved, they must own exclusive rights to a substantial body of original material that is frequently uploaded by the YouTube user community.

**A Content ID claim is not a "Copyright Strike" and has no negative consequences for a channel. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7002106?hl=en**

>**Because Content ID is enabled by partnerships, claims are not accompanied by copyright strikes, and can not result in suspension or termination of your channel.**

Content ID claims can be automatic (the co
mpany will upload a list of content which YouTube checks against videos and will automatically flag videos that contain that), or manual (see https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/106984?hl=en).

When a Content ID claim is made, whether it was automatic or manual, an email is sent to the uploader, and the video might be monetized or blocked depending on the settings of the Content ID claimant.

#####Dispute process for Content ID claims
The uploader can file a dispute, which gives the claimant the ability to correct mistakes with automatic claiming. The claimant must respond within 30 days and either release the complaint, uphold it, or convert it into a DMCA notice, which follows the procedures above.

If they uphold it, the content owner can appeal. The claimant must respond within 30 days and either release the claim, or convert it into a DMCA notice. (There's also an option to schedule a DMCA notice for 7 days, giving the uploader the option to cancel the appeal and avoid the DMCA notice getting sent).

If the uploader continues disputing and uploading, one of two things must happen: the claim is released, or it's converted into a DMCA notice, which in YouTube parlance is a "Copyright Strike". At this point, DMCA takes over and the uploader can file a counter-notice, which gives the claimant 10 days to file a lawsuit or drop the claim.

During this whole process, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7000961?hl=en&ref_topic=2778545 describes what happens with the advertising money during disputes. Basically, if no response is received within 5 days, the money is given to the claimant, but if a dispute/appeal/counter-notice is received within 5 days then the money is held in escrow, and if the claim is released or dropped then the money is given to the uploader.

If you keep disputing, they need to turn it into a DMCA notice, and if you dispute that they either have to drop it or file a lawsuit.

Assuming you appeal/dispute/counter the same day you receive an email and they take the full 30 days to respond, then the whole process will take 30 days for the first dispute, 30 for the appeal, and 10 for the counter-notice, for approximately 70 days until the matter is completely resolved.

##### Differences between Copyright Strike/DMCA notice and Content ID claims:

A Content ID claim, as noted above, doesn't hurt the channel. You lose income from that specific video, but in theory you could have hundreds of claims and still be able to upload more videos and make money on those. A Copyright Strike, which is the same thing as a DMCA notice (YouTube's terminology here is a bit unclear as they don't mention DMCA specifically), does have consequences. Specifically, if a DMCA notice is filed you receive a Strike, and if you get 3 Strikes your account is deleted. Strikes also disappear after 90 days, so this really means you need to get 3 Strikes within 90 days for this to happen. And as above, you can counter-notice each DMCA notice which removes them after 10 days if you aren't sued.

Some creators are concerned about the legal ramifications of filing a counter-notice, and are hesitant to do so. I personally believe that it's extremely unlikely for a company to spend real money on a lawyer on an obviously ridiculous claim, and if they don't sue, then you will win the dispute on YouTube, for free, and with no negative consequences. I would strongly recommend everyone who gets an obviously BS claim to dispute, appeal, and counter. You'll even get the money back from YouTube at the end. **You do not have to make legal threats or file any lawsuits for this to happen, by default you win unless they sue you, which is very unlikely**.

However, this may be justified for creators outside of the US, which would normally not be subject to US jurisdiction, and for cases where it's more ambiguous whether it's fair use or not.

https://redd.it/aga8yl
@YoutubeCompendium
Question: Can the easily abused copyright system on Youtube be used to our benefit?

First off, please forgive my ignorance. I have been aware of issues with the copyright abuse system on youtube for a while, but [it wasn't until I read the comments on this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/ag8ovy/starwarstheory_creates_a_darth_vader_fan_film/) that I started to realize how bad this system actually is.

It seems like the system is massively prone to abuse. Considering this, is there anyway we can use this easily abused system for the benefit of content creators and the users of the platform?

Now these are just silly ideas off the top of my head, so please correct me if I am wrong, but can any of the following be achieved?

* Have two (or more) youtube accounts, and repeatedly claim copyright on your own material to stop others from doing the same?
* Can copyright claims be made against companies that operate on youtube, so we can find ways of claiming their money? If so, can we distribute a step by step guide to how to do this so that we have a quick and easy way of making money of corporate videos?
* Can we spam youtube with so many copyright claims that the entire system falls over?

The ultimate aim of any of these things would be to force youtube to change their copyright system to something that isn't so easily abused. My guess is that while youtube is making money and their big corporate partners are making money they won't care too much about the odd small time content creator getting ripped off. However if we can find a way of making this a massive headache for youtube and (in particular) start cutting into the revenues of them or their partners, then things will be sorted out much faster.

Again, if these are all silly and unrealistic ideas then please forgive me. I am just trying to think of how this system can be dismantled through its very nature of being easily abused. Any other ideas along this line would be very welcome.

https://redd.it/aga9cv
@YoutubeCompendium
Small Claims and you: a brief guide to using the legal system to resolve copyright disputes

#Disclaimers
I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. Do your own research first, I'm just an autist with way too much time on my hands.

#What is small claims court?
Small claims was made to handle relatively minor disputes that would otherwise be too costly to pursue for plaintiffs and too numerous and petty for full civil court to want to handle. This is primarily for open-and-shut contract disputes - eg, you pay someone $500 to do something, they don't do it, so you pursue legal action to get compensated for damages.

#Why small claims?
The big downside is that there's a statutory limit to how much you can pursue, typically $10,000. On the upside, small claims uses different rules designed to make it easier and cheaper to use the legal system. Typically, the defendent cannot have a lawyer present (unless you're like, suing a lawyer personally or a law firm.) You also don't need a lawyer. Filing and service fees are low. And the clerks at the courthouse can answer procedural questions like "how do I file a suit", because it's designed to not need lots of legal training to be used.

#Torts
You can't just say that people owe you money and get taken seriously. There has to be a legal reason you are owe damages - a tort.

In this case, you are probably suing for two related claims: interference with contract (or economic advantage), and defamation. I'll talk about these separately:

##Tortious interference (California)

https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/caci/2200/2201/ , or possibly https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/caci/2200/2202/

>1. That there was a contract between [name of plaintiff] and [name of third party];
>2. That [name of defendant] knew of the contract;
>3. That [name of defendant]’s conduct prevented performance or made performance more expensive or difficult;
>4. That [name of defendant] [intended to disrupt the performance of this contract/ [or] knew that disruption of performance was certain or substantially certain to occur];
>5. That [name of plaintiff] was harmed; and
>6. That [name of defendant]’s conduct was a substantial factor in causing [name of plaintiff]’s harm.

You'll want to show facts that prove each of these points. You have a contract with YouTube (terms of service) as a content creator. The defendant knows about this because you upload stuff to YouTube and everyone who does so has such a contract with YouTube. The conduct interfered with the service via any copyright strikes, your time spent dealing with the dispute, diverted advertising revenue, and anything else you can document. It's a copyright claim, the defendant should know that it disrupt your relationship with YouTube. Harms are losses from advertising revenue and any copyright strikes in your account. It's a substantial factor in causing the harm because YouTube told you that their conduct with the copyright dispute caused this.

##Defamation

https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/caci/1700/1705/

>1. That [name of defendant] made [one or more of] the statement(s) to [a person/persons] other than [name of plaintiff];
>2. That [this person/these people] reasonably understood that the statement(s) [was/were] about [name of plaintiff];
>3. That because of the facts and circumstances known to the [listener(s)/reader(s)] of the statement(s), [it/they] tended to injure [name of plaintiff] in [his/her] occupation [or to expose[him/her] to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or shame] [or to discourage others from associating or dealing with [him/her]];
>4. That [name of defendant] failed to use reasonable care to determine the truth or falsity of the statement(s);
>5. That [name of plaintiff] suffered harm to [his/her] property, business, profession, or occupation [including money spent as a result of the statement(s)]; and
>6. That the statement(s) [was/were] a substantial factor in causing [name of plaintiff]’s harm.

You can also show facts to fit all of these pieces. The statement is that you uploaded work that t
hey own the copyright to. It's a statement about you in particular as the uploader of the work. It discourages YouTube specifically from associating or dealing with you via their copyright strike policy. The statement was obviously false, and as such didn't use any sort of reasonable care to determine the truth or falsity of the claim. The harm suffered is both to your reputation with YouTube (via copyright strikes), time and money spent as a result of the statements, and diverted advertising revenue. And the statements caused the harm because YouTube sent you a message explaining that this dispute caused a copyright strike and/or diverted advertising revenue.

Furthermore, in California, the defamation claim allows for punitive damages as well as monetary ones, if you can show that the defendant acted with "malice, oppression, or fraud". All three of these [appear applicable](https://www.justia.com/trials-litigation/docs/caci/3900/3940/). You'll also want to add in news articles to support your claim that this is "pattern or practice" common on YouTube, since this is a factor that can be considered when awarding punitive damages.

#Demand Letter
The first step is to have documented an attempt to resolve things without a lawsuit. This is a demand letter. You want to write things professionally, short, and to the point. What happened, when, what you want them to do about it. “You claimed this video on this date with an obviously false copyright claim. Retract this claim and pay me $500 by June 3rd, or I will sue you in small claims." Send it certified mail and retain the tracking info and a copy of the letter. Some of the time, this is where your process ends, as it's an expensive pain in the ass to be sued so sending you $500 or whatever is often far cheaper.

#The actual lawsuit bits
The most likely defense you'll face is a jurisdictional argument. The court doesn't consider it fair to haul basically anyone to rural North Dakota over a small claim - they have to have nexus there, some sort of operational presence.

If you sue in California, though, you have better odds of prevailing here. YouTube is famously headquartered in California, they do business with YouTube, and they lied to a California company about a California resident. It's very reasonable to handle disputes about the incident in California courts. Also, YouTube's [terms of service](https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms) state that it's governed under California law (specifically in Santa Clara County).

Past that I only really have generic advice from listening to lawyers talk about stuff. Write professionally and to the point. Bring up facts and tie them to a legal theory and a narrative. You may want to submit news articles about the false-claim-for-cash phenomenon to show that this is an ordinary regular harm that these folks are dishing out for profit.

#Collecting and post-lawsuit

Winning the lawsuit doesn't automatically move money from the defendant to you. It gives you the right to use the legal system to pursue collection actions. What I think you'll want to do is garnish their advertising payments from YouTube, since you know YouTube is sending them money you have a right to.

You'll also want to send YouTube a certified letter to their legal department saying that civil court found these specific statements defamatory and false, and asking them to remove the claim and any associated copyright strikes. Again attach a date to this request, and maybe pay a lawyer to write this one.

#Postnoscript

There may also be a claim you could make against YouTube, but that's more likely to be a class-action that some enterprising lawyer will take up for personal profit (hint hint).

Small claims court will also issue subpoenas - legal demands for documents and testimony - that are a pain in the ass to comply with. You want to be a pain in the ass until and unless your wrongs have been righted. If the court agrees that it is equitable, this power can include getting incredibly important people to waste their day in court being involved in your dispute
. For instance, you can try to subpoena the CEO of YouTube, who is worth a cool 500 million dollars. You'll have to compensate them for travel costs so it isn't free to subpoena folks, but it is leverage. This will piss off important folks, though, so don't pull these shenanigans unless you're ok with that. But in negotiations, "pay me or I'll force the CEO of your business partner to show up in court and give testimony" is an incredibly strong negotiating position to be in.

Finally, take copious notes and documentation. This will be very useful if you go through this process a second time for similar causes, and will let you basically do the whole thing on auto-pilot. Plus, specific facts help out a ton in the case itself.

Feel free to repost this and/or copy-paste it wherever you'd like.

https://redd.it/agbvq7
@YoutubeCompendium
Popular pianist YouTube channel Rosseau may get shut down. A music company is making copyright claims on his own content. (REPOST)

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https://i.redd.it/8hd71w8c3pa21.png

https://redd.it/aggix4
@YoutubeCompendium
2019 January - Pokimane files a false copyright strike against a video that compiled a Twitter fight between her and Keemstar

The video itself is from November 2018, but the recent focus has been due to a copyright strike to take down the video from Pokimane.

Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3di34fA2h0

Fainted comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWn69uDRH-k

PewDiePie comments: https://youtu.be/yMuEeUyMfUo?t=359

Pokimane Apology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5AU0JJ2wlA

https://redd.it/agj7km
@YoutubeCompendium
For about 2 years, threads keep popping up on 4chan about "Monkey Hate" on youtube. What is Monkey Hate? Search for literally any video about baby monkeys and then go into the comment section.

I thought this would be a great topic for this sub, especially since I don't really see it mentioned much outside of /x/.

NOW, that being the case, there is a possibility that this phenomena is simply a bunch of edgy kids trying to disturb others on the internet. I've only just learned of this but it seems to have only been noticed by others for about 2 years. Regardless I find this creepy as shit considering kids on the platform without supervision. How easy it would be for someone to look up cute baby monkey videos and then stumble into some horrific shit. It's not just comments, a lot of videos show monkeys being abused, eaten in nature, locked in cages, etc and so forth. But that's only vids.

What you will find in the comments of these videos (hours and hours of them being found in playlists called "Kill Baby Monkeys" and "Hurting Monkeys") is pages of people, real people as far as I can tell, absolutely frothing about how much they would like to torture baby monkeys. This goes far beyond any type of weird sub group, all these comments get lots of replies, likes, and come in many languages. They read like they were written by bots but you can see that most have real enough profiles. If I have to post a link or screenshots instead of a self post, I will. I just wanted to know if anyone here was aware of this because it freaked the hell out of me. A lot of the comments are just sick beyond even 4chan's capabilities. One of the theories I've seen is that it likely started with thirdworld countries or places like India where monkeys are a common nuisance as opposed to some cute exotic version of a cat video. But that doesn't hold water for me seeing as a lot of the commenter profiles seem like white, western peoples and also, I have never in my life seen someone say how much they love to kill and cruelly torture raccoons or stray cats or skunks or rats. Not to this level anyway. A lot of it reads like torture porn, someone practicing or fantasizing about hurting a person or child really, but disguising it as a weird anti-monkey fetish. Heavily fucked up.

https://redd.it/agl930
@YoutubeCompendium