YouTube demonetizes public domain 'Steamboat Willie' video after copyright claim

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 370 points –
YouTube demonetizes public domain 'Steamboat Willie' video after copyright claim
mashable.com

YouTube demonetizes public domain 'Steamboat Willie' video after copyright claim::undefined

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The article hides it in the update.

This feels significant: Disney has officially retracted a copyright claim on a third-party's Steamboat Willie video on YouTube.

It's not significant, that's how it works. It went into the public domain and the copyright strike process took time to adjust. Disney was never going to fight this.

Just as significant (and I suppose still pending) is whether YouTube has re-monetized the video. Systems fail and shit happens, and I'm glad to see that this was quickly un-struck, but it's not all the way corrected until he's making his $.0003 per view or whatever the payout is.

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Hell half of these damn copyright claims are automated bots. I guess they forgot to turn this one off.

This is significant because this is the first time in the history of copyright bots that they've ever had to remove a work from the bot's registry. Given how rarely it happens, the code to do that probably won't even be worth the cost of writing for another decade or two: some guy at YouTube will just add a manual exception for that video. (And that's assuming the best of intention and action from the copy-vio-bot sellers which is unlikely, given their existing behavior.)

Every year there is plenty of stuff, like movies which end in the public domain. Certainly not the first time. Just the first time you thought/heard of it

Exactly, Disney never intended to make trouble with this, and this isn't a significant historical win for copyright activists.

It’s still significant because being demonetized kills a video in the algorithm and even if the claim is reversed you don’t get that back

The title/article isn't about the damage its doing to people using it. It's implying that Disney is going to actively give trouble to people using it, when it was nothing other than a mistake that was bound to happen anyway.

I'm not saying it didn't significantly impact the creator, I'm saying Disney backing off the bad claim is not significant. It's what Disney was always going to do, it's just that "Disney and youtube accidentally flag Steamboat Willie stuff" isn't as clickbaity. .

I'm sorry, but if you were expecting to make an amount of money from Steamboat Willie on Youtube at this point, prepare to be disappointed.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=steamboat+willie

Rather than making money, the deprioritization of a copyright claimed video can cost a channel a significant amount of views and potential subscribers, so even if you’re not making money off that specific video, it’s still a significant impact.

Well, one problem is that YouTube's whole "Content ID" process happens specifically outside of copyright law. Google will gladly take down videos without actual copyright problems and they actively shield trolls (normally, a wrong copyright claim is a crime), because it means they won't have to go to court.

So, it would theoretically be possible for Disney to continue the Content ID claims, even if they'd lose a copyright claim in court.
Google would eventually tell them to fuck off, i.e. to take it to court, but only if the case is clear enough.

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