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CNN and Canada's CBC faced a lawsuit after ripping a 31-second video from YouTube. They allegedly used the video in their broadcasts without permission. Now media giants face claims of copyright infringement and allegations that they breached the anti-circumvention measures of the DMCA.
Most YouTube users upload videos to the service every day and don’t expect any reward. However, popular content can generate revenue via account monetization program. The US citizen Alfonzo Cutaia used this program a year ago, when he felt he had a hit video on his hands. However, media giants allegedly didn’t play by the rules.
It all started last year, when winter storm ‘Knife‘ came to New York and Cutaia recorded the storm coming over Lake Erie from his Buffalo office window. Recognizing the potential for interest in this video, he then uploaded it to YouTube and opted to generate revenue through the monetization program under a standard YouTube license. By the end of day one, the video had been viewed over 500,000 times, and day two brought him another 2.3m hits. After this, Cutaia received requests from various news outlets to use his footage.
However, Canada’s CBC aired Cutaia’s video online without permission, with a CBC logo as an overlay. In response, CBC explained that it had obtained the video from CNN on a 10-day license, despite the fact that CBC and its partners used the footage for many months, and CNN also had no license.
Cutaia also claims that both media giants violated the DMCA, when they “liberated” the video from the YouTube system and offered it for viewing elsewhere. The owner of the video launched a lawsuit saying that by reproduction and alteration to the video, the news outlets intentionally removed and altered the copyright management data of the video without permission.
Both companies are also accused of distributing the footage despite knowing that the copyright management data had been removed. Finally, the author of the video seeks permanent injunctions against media giants, accuses them of varying degrees of copyright violation, while demanding a jury trial to determine damages.
It should be noted that his video continues to gain hits on YouTube. By July, it had been viewed over 3.68m times.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
Most YouTube users upload videos to the service every day and don’t expect any reward. However, popular content can generate revenue via account monetization program. The US citizen Alfonzo Cutaia used this program a year ago, when he felt he had a hit video on his hands. However, media giants allegedly didn’t play by the rules.
It all started last year, when winter storm ‘Knife‘ came to New York and Cutaia recorded the storm coming over Lake Erie from his Buffalo office window. Recognizing the potential for interest in this video, he then uploaded it to YouTube and opted to generate revenue through the monetization program under a standard YouTube license. By the end of day one, the video had been viewed over 500,000 times, and day two brought him another 2.3m hits. After this, Cutaia received requests from various news outlets to use his footage.
However, Canada’s CBC aired Cutaia’s video online without permission, with a CBC logo as an overlay. In response, CBC explained that it had obtained the video from CNN on a 10-day license, despite the fact that CBC and its partners used the footage for many months, and CNN also had no license.
Cutaia also claims that both media giants violated the DMCA, when they “liberated” the video from the YouTube system and offered it for viewing elsewhere. The owner of the video launched a lawsuit saying that by reproduction and alteration to the video, the news outlets intentionally removed and altered the copyright management data of the video without permission.
Both companies are also accused of distributing the footage despite knowing that the copyright management data had been removed. Finally, the author of the video seeks permanent injunctions against media giants, accuses them of varying degrees of copyright violation, while demanding a jury trial to determine damages.
It should be noted that his video continues to gain hits on YouTube. By July, it had been viewed over 3.68m times.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.