Where's the Fair Use?

(The shortened opening)

NC: Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to. Online videos have come along way haven't they? We've gone from the novelty of just (vo) filming our cats to budgeted studios that turn out professional work every year...as well as the novelty of just filming our cats.

NC: But, there's a group of entertainers that, despite growing more popular and having done this for years, still meet with a lot of hostility from Hollywood, and those are the entertainers who incorporate fair use.

(Shows a short clip of them filming an NC review)

NC (vo): This is what we do, and for those who don't know (shows an image of the "Fair use" law), Fair use is the doctrine that states "excerpts of copyrighted material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, (shows scenes from the Mad Max: Fury Road review) without the need for permission or payment from the copyright holder".

NC: So, that means if you use copyrighted material for satire or education, it's completely legal. Too bad, Hollywood doesn't see the law that way. (vo) As for years video producers have been battling off attack after attack, resulting in multiple deleted videos, sometimes even deleted channels, affecting the income of people, who now do this for a living.

NC: In hindisght, this is no big shock as Hollywood, over the years, has repeated this pattern over and over. They just never realized it. (vo) (shows the "Hollywood" sign) Since the early days, there's always been something that is going to destroy the innocent artists, who just want to give you movies. First it was TV, VHS recording, then it was DVR, DVD rippers, and now, right on cue, it's the Internet.

NC: (sarcastically): Ohhhh, poor Hollywood. Look at all the box office records you're breaking in the last ten years, look at all the new filmmakers that would exist without online media, look at all the digital commercials and tie ins you're exploiting the hell out of.

NC: (still being sarcastic) You're killing them Internet! You're strangling them like a newborn unicorn, who just wants to give you rainbows! (normal vo) So, obviously like in the days of TV and so forth, the Internet did not kill the Hollywood system. But, that didn't stop them from trying to take control anyway, as we saw with acts like SOPA, giving complete control to US law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement, with no due process.

NC Yeah, that was a scary time for the Internet. Google even shut (vo) down there site in protest, and this isn't even that long ago (October 26, 2011)

NC: Now thankfully, that act never passed, but that doesn't mean their practices aren't still being put into effect.

(Shows the I Hate Everything Avatar)

NC: (sarcastically)

Alex (vo): Hi, I'm Alex from I Hate Everything. Three days after releasing my review of Cool Cat Saves The Kids, a terribly infamously bad movie, I received a suspicious copyright from the director of the movie himself: Derek Savage, who over the course of the month, used this unfair strike to censor and restrict my channel, and even tried to bully an apology out of me that I have since made public.

Alex (vo): This clueless man, who has shown multiple times that he has as little understanding of how the Fair Use law works as he is knowledgable about competent filmmaking, was given the tools to waste my time and threaten my livelihood, purely because he didn't like my review of his God awful movie, which, by the way, I did recommend it at the end of the video, in a "so bad, it's good" kind of way, and I wasn't alone either. It turns out Mr. Savage has been on a copyright rampage, silencing at least two other creators (Bobsheaux and Josiah Clark), who had a negatively slanted review of his movie.

Alex (vo): Savage's childish behaviour aside, this highlights just how hilariously slanted, and weighted, against the creator, the YouTube copyright strike system is. He didn't have to show any evidence, he didn't have to prove his case, or worry about any possible repercussions. He definitely would have lost in court if it had gone there, so once he failed to refute my appeal, the strike's time limit ran out, and my channel was eventually restored to normal. It was a colossal waste of time and energy for everyone involved.

(Shows the Your Movie Sucks Dot.com Avatar)

Adam (vo): Hey guys, it's YMS here to explain a few things about YouTube's copyright system. It wasn't too long ago when one of my videos was unjustly blocked worldwide, and I was unable to appeal it because I had other appeals that had yet to be resolved. Now unfortunately, YouTube only allows you to file three appeals at one time. What is the reasoning for this? Well, I'm really not sure, but all it seems to do is provided more leverage for the claimant and less leverage for the defendant.

NC: There are tons of videos that are taken down unfairly on YouTube. (vo as it shows three NC reviews that were removed. Those are: Eight Crazy Nights, The Purge, and Son of the Mask) Trying to put those, who use fair use, into the same category of those who steal or upload entire content for profit.

NC: But, how can this Isn't there a system in place? (beat) In theory. (vo) After Google bought YouTube, Viacom immediately went to court against them for the content lamer without there permission. Funny, seeing how Viacom actually uploaded about a hundred of the videos they tried to sue YouTube for. YouTube defended itself with the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and safe harbor provision. They created a system that would shed any responsibility for the videos on YouTube, and again in theory, help protect it's creators. This system is, was, and will continue to be abused. For some reason, at a much more rapid paste this year.

NC: The system is there's two penalties for copyright infringement: a claim or a strike (vo) A strike is the most severe. Your video gets taken down from YouTube because a copyright owner sent a complete legal request, asking YouTube to do so. Just one strike limits your channel, including only airing fifteen minute videos, and an inability to dispute copyright claims for six months. You get three of these, and your channel is gone.

NC: And then there's the more popular, yet "less severe", penalty claims

Adam (vo): If content ID detects copyright material within your video, then an automatic action will take place. This action is entirely depended on what the copyright holder peevishly set it to do. For example, if I owned a movie, and I wanted to add it to YouTube's content idea system, I would get to decide how much footage of my film would need to appear in someone else's video, before it automatically claims it. You can also receive claims that were filed manually. A manual claim implies someone actually watched the video, and determined it was infringing, before actually filing the claim.

NC: So, how can that be possibly be unfair?

Alex (vo): I'm Alex from I Hate Everything, saying "Where's the fair use?"

Adam (vo): I'm Adam from YMS or Your Movie Sucks, and I'm asking "Where's the fair use?"

NC: I'm the Nostalgia Critic. Where's the fair use?

* Note: Transcript not yet completed.*