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Digital Culture

DMCA Notice

Huh.

So I noted yesterday that I had attended Wrestlemania 23. I took a bunch of photos and a handful of video at the event, as cameras were allowed at the venue. In order to share the videos (two of them) I uploaded them to YouTube. The two videos were < 30 seconds long, and were taken from my seat, faaaaar up on the second level of the arena. Not 12 hours later, I recieved a DMCA takedown notice for them. My question now is: are they actually a violation of copyright? I'm not certain...I checked the back of my ticket for a contract notice, and found this gem: "By using this ticket, the ticket holder agrees that he or she will not directly or indirectly transmit or aid in transmitting any picture, account or description (whether text, data, or visual) in any media now or hereafter existing of all or any part of the football game or related events." I didn't see a football game, nor any events related to one...but I suppose there is an argument that this is a general prohibition for "events at Ford Field." But that is not what it says. As well, as I read it, that agreement prohibits everything...even talking about the game afterwards with your friends. As I noted, cameras were allowed at Wrestlemania...they even sold cameras at the merch tables. So clearly that can't be the case for still pictures. There is also the warning they broadcast inside the venue before the show...which I didn't see. We didn't arrive until a bit after the first match, so I missed it. However, there's a photo on flickr: Wrestlemania 23 copyright

But that is the warning that is intended for the viewers-at-home so to speak…and again, they clearly allowed for photography within the arena.

So, copyright peeps: did YouTube (and thus Google) jump the gun on this? I think they did, and my inclination is to send a counter-notice to them. What say you all?

By griffey

Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of IT at the University of TN at Chattanooga.

Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design from 2018. His newest book, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2024.

He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system.

Jason can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.

3 replies on “DMCA Notice”

The WWE site has a general copyright statement that applies to the site, events, and basically everything else under the sun.
http://www.wwe.com/help/generalfaq/copyright
Pretty much it looks like they don’t care if you take pictures for yourself (since that would be “personal study” or something analogous under copyright law) but they don’t want you to distribute pictures or video that you take.

Do I really need to mention that I only pretend to know what I’m talking about when it comes to copyright? And here’s the rub, I know gazillion times more about copyright than I do about the DMCA, which is what you’ve run into. So…. good luck. Let me know what comes of it all.

The WWE site has a general copyright statement that applies to the site, events, and basically everything else under the sun.http://www.wwe.com/help/generalfaq/copyrightPretty much it looks like they don't care if you take pictures for yourself (since that would be “personal study” or something analogous under copyright law) but they don't want you to distribute pictures or video that you take.Do I really need to mention that I only pretend to know what I'm talking about when it comes to copyright? And here's the rub, I know gazillion times more about copyright than I do about the DMCA, which is what you've run into. So…. good luck. Let me know what comes of it all.

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