[Gamers videos of play deleted due to Copyright]

[Tinker]

Following a recent incident on You-Tube. Account

This guy had over 60,000 subscribers and over 7,000 videos, all gone!

Ubi topic

YouTube topic

Hello Everyone,

I have sad news regarding what happened to DSP. This is directly from:

U.S. Copyright Office

Library of Congress

101 Independence Ave SE

Washington DC 20559

(202) 707-3000

www.copyright.gov

I was mad like the rest of you when Phil's account was deleted, but seeing all of the conflicting answers here on the forums, I decided I had to have an iron-clad answer, so I wrote to the U.S. Copyright Office (info shown above) and asked this question:

"I had a question regarding Copyright rules as applied to console and computer game content. Is it allowed for a person to make a video of himself/herself playing a video game, complete with live commentary from him or her, and then post it online for the enjoyment of others, as long as he/she is not doing it for profit?

An example of what I am asking would be: John Q Public buys Mass Effect 2 for Xbox 360, makes a video of himself playing the game, and then posts it on youtube or some other online video site, so that other people can see his experience. He posts it because he wants to share his experience with others (he's not doing it for monetary reasons). Is that prohibited under Copyright rules and regulations? Are there any Copyright rules regarding the usage of a video of someone playing a game? Not actual game video ripped directly from the game itself, mind you, but if John Q Public sets up a video camera in front of his TV, and records his experience of the gameplay?"

Here is the answer I received from the U.S. Copyright Office:

"No that is not allowed.

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies

(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

(3) to distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending

(4) to perform the copyrighted work publicly; and

(5) to display the copyright work publicly.

What you would be doing could be in violation of number 5 and possibly number 4, which would subject you to copyright infringement."

I'm sorry guys, but based on the US Government reply above, DSP's original account is gone for good. There's nothing we can do except ask lawmakers to change or repeal the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Sincerely,

GovernmentAnswer

Right or wrong, the point is, this is something that maybe every gamer does at some point, record game play and upload it.

Where do you draw the line?

[Rocky]

Very interesting, as explains several things like, why Vimeo do not allow game game videos on their site and delete accounts accordingly.

Also why people who produce video game walkthroughs to help other gamers progress past sticking points, have trouble keeping their videos online.

Here's the thing though, ask game developer X if he wants little johhny's video of him promoting/enjoying Game Y deleted from youtube? That's a no brainer, the answer is no. Why? Because Youtube is a godsend to all content creators, be it games or television.

That is why you will see Youtube is now streaming lots of television content for free now with dedicated tv channels in agreement with many TV companies. There was a time not long ago when these companies would have been asking YT to remove their copyrighted material from their servers, now though, they realise that absolute power YT yields in promoting their"product" are they harness it.

That is where game companies need to go, and they will, it'll just take time. Until then YT etc will probably continue to remove videos for fear of litigation that would realistically NEVER come.

[Rocky]

OMG I DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST HEARD.

The guy at the centre of this whole thing, who had his YT account closed, has an alternate page up and I randomly clicked on one of his videos, turned out it was his latest summation of the state of the whole debate.

It turns out, and I hope you are ready for this, that this whole massive mess that we are now seeing, is as a result of UBISOFT! Youtube told him that his account being closed was 100% due to Ubisoft putting in a copyright claim against his Splinter Cell Conviction.

Really, I am shocked at at apparent stupidity of the management at Ubisoft. Someone from Ubisoft PLEASE tell us why someone promoting your latest game, and putting it out there where people might never have even heard of it before, is bad for your business. I mean, where do you draw the line, is it screenshots next?!

Honestly, this has me dumbfounded. Like I said in my earlier comment, game companies will eventually realise YT is a massive opportunity for them to reach a huge audience, and then they will encourage game videos not set lawyers lose of people. I give this around 12 months to get resolved, then we will all be able to post game videos again, but why should it take 12 months, 24 months or whatever, it is obvious this is a move counter active to their own goals, promotion and sales.

And now that this guy, who is developing a huge following (18,000+ subscribers on his new alternate channel) , has outed Ubisoft has the instigator, can you imagine how Ubi's profile amongst their consumer base has just dived? Is it even possible to dive further then the DRM affair?

It's getting to the point where Ubisoft have these great design houses, these great game makers, and then you have the corporate mugs stepping in and spoiling the party!

When are Ubisoft going to STOP and think, you know, maybe, just maybe, we should befriend our consumers, rather than OFFEND them.

From what I've heard, Ubisoft forums are filling up with more Ubi hate following this latest Ubisoft FUBAR.

[wombat50]

Unbelieveable.

Ubisoft exec's are walking on very thin ice IMO.

The arrogant attitude that consumers are a pain in the butt and should be ridden roughshod over

is going to come back and bite them you know where.

[NightCrawler]

No Wombat, it's very believeable.

[Daywanderer]

I believe this is the first time I've heard of a game developer pulling down gameplay videos from YouTube. Way to go. If they're going to be consistent, the next step should be to inform IGN and GameSpot (to mention the "top" ones) that they're not allowed to do video reviews of upcoming Ubisoft games - and maybe remove existing video reviews as well.

*sigh*

I never thought I'd say this, but these guys could actually learn something from Activision..

[Rocky]

What about gamereplays.org, or any other number of websites who's core function involves game clips? Shall we just shut them all down?

[WhiteKnight77]

I first read about this 2 days ago on the Ubi forums. At first I didn't care much, but yes, this is how far Ubi has sunk in its customer relations department. Upper management is having serious brain farts and apparently just do not care about their bottom line. Lightspeed thinks I hate Ubi, but as I said, I do not hate Ubi, but really dislike their customer relations and how they handle complaints and their business sense. Free advertising is a godsend and the right now, Ubi is getting the wrong type of advertising, the bad kind. Ubi really needs to go back and study Business 101.

[firefly2442]

This is quite odd. Essentially, all these videos are positive for the gaming companies because it's like free advertising/promoting the game. I could see them getting upset if he was selling the videos or badmouthing the game but if it's just him playing, what's the big deal?

edit: I wonder what the legal similarities are between these videos and movie trailers?

Edited April 18, 2010 by firefly2442

[NoQuarter]

>7,000 video game segment uploads?

This guy seriously needs to get laid.

___

EDIT: Backhanded swipe at Ubi removed...as much as it pains me.

Edited April 24, 2010 by NoQuarter

[Cpl Ledanek]

oh I hope they don't start going for our Screenshot Thread, as Rocky has said.

[Tinker]

Taken from Ubi Forums

Please see the following official statement issued today by Ubisoft.

'Over the last few days, there have been articles stating that Ubisoft closed down the YouTube channel DarksydePhil via a third takedown notice for copyright infringement.

To clarify the situation, contrary to what was previously indicated in the message displayed when trying to access the video concerned at

, Ubisoft did not send a Takedown notice for Copyright Infringement concerning the channel DarksydePhil,

To avoid confusion, the message has now been updated, as Ubisoft is not at the origin of the takedown notice.

The takedown notice concerned a video for Splinter Cell Conviction, which lead viewers to believe that the takedown initiative was connected to Ubisoft, while in fact the notice was initiated by a third-party user with no affiliation to Ubisoft.'

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Steve Jones.

[Daywanderer]

So, any idea who Steve Jones is?

[Rocky]

What a great story. Ubisoft is Innocent Shocker. LOL.

Warning : Following vid contains profanity at the end.

http://www.youtube.c...BzzgRmBUfz4.swf

So the hunt for Steve Jones is on. I wouldn't like to be in his shoes!

[Daywanderer]

The conspiracy theories are up already - so far fans of DSP have located a Steve Jones involved in development of a few games.

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/brothersinarms/tech_info.html

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,269459/

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,185354/

On the GameSpot link he's listed as Lead Programmer for Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, ironically enough published by Ubisoft xD

He was however employed by Gearbox, and probably still is seeing as he's credited for work on Gearbox-developed Borderlands on the Mobygames link.

Whether or not this is *the* Steve Jones remains to be seen, but he is the only one with that name that's popped up in regards to PC games so far. I have never seen or even heard of the DSP channel before this "incident", so I don't know what sort of videos he had up there and if there is some sort of connection at all.

As I mentioned, the theories are flourishing - some believe Steve Jones is merely an alias and that whoever made the copyright claim is doing this for reasons unknown. Some believe the person is affiliated with Ubisoft in some way, some even believe he was "hired" to divert the fire away from Ubisoft. Who knows? It seems like it's pretty much a mystery so far.

What I'm wondering, of course, is how a private person can have any copyright claims for content involving PC game videos - any claims should be coming from the developer company/companies.

[Tinker]

DarksydePhil suspended AGAIN - because of Sony Santa Monica?!?! Yeah right....

[Warning: Some strong language]

Note: His channel is back up again as from today.

You can be successful and have enemies, or you can be unsuccessful and have friends...

[Parabellum]

Really, I am shocked at at apparent stupidity of the management at Ubisoft. Someone from Ubisoft PLEASE tell us why someone promoting your latest game, and putting it out there where people might never have even heard of it before, is bad for your business. I mean, where do you draw the line, is it screenshots next?!

Why are you shocked? UbiSoft has proven itself, as a compay, to be completely inept and and corporately stupid. I'm not at all surprised that this debacle was the result of Ubi, to be honest. The company's management team don't have a collective iota of common sense among them. They ruin everything they touch. The funny thing is that even though Ubi is "innocent", it's easy to believe that they'd stoop to this level, due to their past corporate stupidity.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Parabellum