Microsoft Serves Takedown Notices to Videos Not Infringing on Anything | WIRED.
Tar and feathers for Microsoft, in this case. They issued take down notices to videos that were product reviews, and in some cases, critical of Microsoft products. Apparently this company also sent take down notices to Google to remove URLs pointing to Microsoft web pages because the pages allegedly violated Microsoft’s copyright 🙂
As most anyone who uses Youtube knows, the DMCA and how Youtube has implemented copyright protection is terrible. There is now a cottage industry of fake copyright infringement notices sent to many owners of entirely legal Youtube videos. Why? Because the fake copyright claims result in Youtube running ads on the video and turning over ad revenue to the person making the fake copyright claim. While each copyright claim may be contested, and won, these scammers immediately issue a new copyright claim.
I personally had two companies, both claim copyright on the same piece of music! Worse, the music was from the 19th century, is in the public domain, and was never copyrighted! The recording I used is specifically labeled as available for any public use what so ever, even commercial use!
In another instance, I licensed music for a commercial video I did, and posted on Youtube. Some random company claimed they owned a copyright on the music, which they most certainly did not. Since the time value of that video was gone, I eventually took the video offline rather than contest this erroneous copyright claim.
The problem is that it is very easy to make false copyright claims, which require Youtube to take immediate action, before you can even reply. The system is biased towards those making false or legitimate copyright claims.
