YouTube’s Advice: Dispute Hitler “Downfall” Parody Takedowns

Admin — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:30:19 +0000

Two days ago, several of the popular Hitler Downfall parody videos were pulled from YouTube because owner Constantin Films claimed they infringed on the copyright. YouTube indirectly responded on its blog today by encouraging its users to dispute the takedowns through a process it already has in place for situations like this.

YouTube’s only direct reference to the Hitler parodies was a hyperlink from the word “parody” in the blog post, but it’s clear given the timing that the Downfall takedowns were the reason YouTube spoke up. It wrote in general terms about its Content ID system, which allows copyright holders to request immediate takedowns based on their own standards.

We’ve got some analysis below, as well as two very meta Hitler parodies.

Parody-Makers Can Restore Their Videos

The implication of the blog post was that the clips from Downfall were taken down not through the legal process associated with the applicable Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), but through this Content ID system. As a result, anyone who uploaded a Hitler video that has been taken down can dispute the takedown by checking a box that says, “This video uses copyrighted material in a manner that does not require approval of the copyright holder.” A dispute immediately restores the video, and the owner of the copyright may then decide to seek a formal takedown through the DMCA’s process.

The disputes will likely stick, because it’s easy to argue that the Downfall videos fall into the parody category, and parodies are fair use of copyrighted content in the applicable laws. Some of the videos that were taken down have already been restored, including the “Hitler Orders DMCA Takedown” video (embedded below) — that’s the one YouTube linked in its blog post.

Embracing Free Publicity

The Hitler parodies have exposed thousands of people to Downfall who never would have known about it otherwise, so Constantin Films’ decision to challenge the videos seems a little extreme.

Some, however, know that viral videos can be a form of flattery and free publicity. When asked about parodies users have made of his company’s own content, Nike VP of Digital Sport Stefan Olander told the YouTube Biz Blog: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We love when people engage and participate in the storytelling.” Even Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel told New York Magazine, “You couldn’t get a better compliment as a director.”

Oh, and there’s one more interesting tidbit: The Downfall takedowns took place on what would have been Hitler’s 121st birthday.

Hitler Orders DMCA Takedown

Hitler Reacts to Downfall Parody Removals

Americans Conducted 15.4 Billion Core Searches in March. Who’s in charge of your expanded searches then?

Admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:50:29 +0000

According to comScore qSearch, Americans conducted 15.4 billion “core searches” in March 2010, with Google accounting for 65.1 percent search market share.

What is a core search? It is search on one of the five major search engines, including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

Why is this significant?

If you look at core searches in March, then Google accounted for 10.0 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! (2.6 billion), Microsoft (1.8 billion), Ask (593 million) and AOL (380 million).

Get it? Got it? Good.

But if you look at “expanded searches,” then you get a very different picture of the search market.

What is an expanded search? It is a search on the top properties where search activity is observed. What are these top properties? Oh, YouTube, craigslist, eBay, Facebook.com, MapQuest, MySpace, and Amazon.

If you look at these top properties, Americans conducted 23.9 billion search queries in March 2010. That’s right. About 8.5 billion searches were conduct that month on properties that generally aren’t considered “search engines.”

And 3.7 billion of these expanded searches were conducted on YouTube, which is less than the 10.5 billion expanded searches conducted on Google, but more than the 2.7 billion expanded searches conducted on Yahoo!, or the 1.6 billion expanded searches conducted on Bing.

And the 664 million expanded searches conducted on craiglist, 659 million conducted on eBay, and 647 million conducted on Facebook.com are more than the 594 conducted on AOL.

So, definitions matter. Since YouTube, craigslist, eBay, Facebook.com, MapQuest, MySpace, and Amazon don’t crawl you website, who is in charge of digital asset optimization for these top properties?

Ask your SEO specialist or webmaster that question at your next marketing meeting. And if they tell you it’s not their job, then tell them that you’re thinking of taking some of their budget so that you can create a new position.