Smosh Pokemon vid BOOTED!

[milowent]

dateline 6/14 from the utubeblog:

theutubeblog.com/2007/06/14/youtube-takes-down-smosh-pokemon-video/

News: YouTube has removed Smosh’s mega-popular “Pokemon” video after receiving a copyright DMCA notice from Shogakukan Production Co. Ltd. The Pokemon video was the 4th most watched video ever on YouTube, with over 24 million views. To my knowledge, this is the most popular video ever removed by YouTube under a DMCA notice. By the way, if you don’t know who “Smosh” is, it’s a pair of 20-year-olds Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. They are the No. 1 Most Subcribed Director on YouTube, and they have the Most Views All-Time on YouTube of any amateur or user-generated content. Smosh, in other words, is the top of the heap at YouTube.

Analysis: This is a close, perhaps questionable, call. The Smosh boys did use the “Pokemon” theme song for their video, but they seemed to me to be parodying the whole Pokemon character, with a pretty over-the-top lip synch and use of Pokemon stuffed animals.

A parody fair use is permitted under copyright law, the only question is whether too much of the copyrighted work is taken. Unfortunately, that question is determined on a case-by-case basis. And, in this case, YouTube appears not willing to risk falling outside the DMCA safe harbor, so it chose to follow the more expedient path under the DMCA of taking down the video.

If you want to see if the video should be considered a parody fair use, I believe a version is still up on Veoh and probably elsewhere on the Internet.

[Milo adds: No way was this fair use. They used the copyrighted original song as the music.]

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june 18 update:

Update on YouTube’s take down of Smosh Pokemon video
theutubeblog.com/2007/06/18/update-on-youtubes-take-down-of-smosh-pokemon-video/

News: Last week, I reported that YouTube removed Smosh’s mega-popular Pokemon video after receiving a DMCA notice (for copyright infringement), notwithstanding a strong parody fair use claim for Smosh. Under the DMCA, a website has a greater chance of staying within the safe harbor (and avoiding copyright liability) if it expeditiously removes content identified by a copyright holder in a DMCA notice.

One of the fallouts of the take down is that Smosh lost over 24 million views to its tally, placing it back closer to lonelygirl15 — 56 million to 52 million. If you are not aware, Smosh and lonelygirl15 are No. 1 and No. 2 in total views on YouTube for amateur productions.

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probably losing this video will alsohurt smosh's subscriber gain, not that they are hurting for subscribers (now at 121K to Bree's 94K.)

[hyemew]

If they had removed this a couple of months after it was first created Smosh might not have gotten anywhere near where they are today. This was the first movie I saw of theirs, and like so many others I loved it too. I think the Pokemon parody got them more subscribers than anything else- not that I have any facts to back it up- but it seems to be their best known work and what is most often associated with them. This will hurt- though at this point they're so far ahead and it's been so long I don't it will too much. I think this is also the video in which one of them covertly moons the camera, so perhaps it should also have been removed for PRON reasons zOMG.

[jayhenry]

[oweniscool]

That's so weird. As IF PooTube didn't have a TON of other videos of non-fair usage. Are they going to leave those up? Maybe since Smosh is going to be one of the paid bloggers, maybe GooTube is trying to be more conservative about them.
Still, I agree with Hye. The good (for Smosh) or harm (to the world) has already been done, as this inane video was even featured on CNN, and no doubt helped their rise to the top of the Most Subscribed list.

[milowent]

oweniscool said:

That's so weird. As IF PooTube didn't have a TON of other videos of non-fair usage. Are they going to leave those up?

i think yes, unless someone complains. under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), youtube can let it stick around until the copyright owner asks it to be removed.

[oweniscool]

milowent said:

i think yes, unless someone complains. under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), youtube can let it stick around until the copyright owner asks it to be removed.

Do you know if the copyright owner has to ask for removal of each individual infringing video? Like if I'm Time Warner and clips from my movies keep getting uploaded, do I have to complain each time it happens? If so, that might be part of the reason why there's so much content like that online. It's constantly being uploaded, so it's hard to keep up with your complaint letters, maybe.

[jayhenry]

[milowent]

jayhenry said:

That seems unfairly onerous on MTV to search for the videos one-by-one and demand they be taken down. Is that really how the law works, Milo?

i don't know, i'll try to track that down though.