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Many may already be familiar with RedLetterMedia's hilarious, and 70+ minute, review of Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, but even with support for the video from celebs such as Star Trek and Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg and Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, somebody complained and the video was flagged and removed.
Luckily, the video is back, but nobody knows why this is so, or even who made the complaint in the first place.
The review, which does not hold back on criticizing the new Star Wars movies, does contain a lot of footage from the movies, and the copyright companies that now scour YouTube for hints of copyright infringement (so they can report it and get paid for their efforts) may have figured this had to be considered piracy, even though it was just a review (albeit a very long one).
So does usage of film clips in this way violate copyright? Fair use does allow reviews and criticism to use copyrighted materials, but in this day and age of oversensitivity over copyright abuse, does fair use still exist?
Anyway, before YouTube sees fit to remove the reviews again, everyone should go have a look (RedLetterMedia's channel is here). Warning, contains spoilers and offensive language (which makes the review even funnier).
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Luckily, the video is back, but nobody knows why this is so, or even who made the complaint in the first place.
The review, which does not hold back on criticizing the new Star Wars movies, does contain a lot of footage from the movies, and the copyright companies that now scour YouTube for hints of copyright infringement (so they can report it and get paid for their efforts) may have figured this had to be considered piracy, even though it was just a review (albeit a very long one).
So does usage of film clips in this way violate copyright? Fair use does allow reviews and criticism to use copyrighted materials, but in this day and age of oversensitivity over copyright abuse, does fair use still exist?
Anyway, before YouTube sees fit to remove the reviews again, everyone should go have a look (RedLetterMedia's channel is here). Warning, contains spoilers and offensive language (which makes the review even funnier).
More:
