New York Dreamer

It’s been already several days. It’s not new news that Google knocked down Viacom in the first round of a three-year long legal match. As you all know, over three years ago, Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google, a new owner of Youtube, for copyright infringement.

What is Viacom’s beef with Youtube, then?

Well…

(On the Youtube side of the ring: Youtube’s voice) “Yeah. We have this cool online platform called Youtube where anybody can post videos and share them with anybody online. We are just providing a neutral public place for everybody to post, share, search, and enjoy videos online. It’s a cool stuff. That’s where the future goes. Billion thanks to the Internet and the technology. Not sure if it was worth paying $1.65 billion for our price tag, but considering the Google’s value increase and our continued success with ever increasing digital ads after Google bought us, $1.65 billion now seems to be a cheap price for super rich Google. Anyway, we are hugely popular among people and we are changing the future and people’s lives. Oh, I forgot to mention one more thing. We do not encourage nor induce copyright infringement, so please do not post something that is not yours or is unauthorized. Even if you do, we would not know which video is violating the copyright law. There are too many videos to figure out which is what. It’s impossible. The burden to detect should not be on us. We are just providing this online place for people to come and enjoy. We are an innocent service provider. When any legitimate copyright owners tell us which video is copyright infringement, though, we are pretty quick to take them down. We are not encouraging copyright infringement. If we lose this fight, then we seriously think that it’s going to effectively kill the internet. Oooooh. I can see millions of other content owners waiting for the first bite and the first blood drop to signal them to jump in to devour us and the internet like the Piranha in the water.”

(On the Viacom’s side of the ring: Viacom’s voice) “It cannot be happening! We are the copyright owner of the awesome contents out there. We have the monopoly right to say yes or nay for any use, sharing, distributing, copying, selling our stuff… We invested tons of money in creating the awesome contents and making business out of it. It’s a lot of hard work, employing a lot of people, spending a lot of time and money. But over the recent years, I see some significant shift in the business and I see less dollars flowing into my pocket. I was appalled when I first saw my stuff on Youtube somebody posted without my permission, without giving me any money or any notice for the use. Gosh. People are watching it for free. What’s wrong with these people? Nobody can see my stuff without my permission. That was our initial agreement and consensus. It really pisses me off. People are not paying for our contents nor watching stuff on TV anymore which has been the main source of my income. Who is making money, then? Oh, I see, that evil Youtube has been stealing my eyeballs, my audience, my ad dollars, and my media business. I hate the technology. I hate the buzz around them. It’s simply wrong. I need to get my damage to be recovered. I should sue them. I heard that Google hired hundreds of lawyers to defend themselves from copyright infringement. Great! I don’t mind pursuing that deep pocket. Somebody should pay for my loss. No choice.”

(Users’ Voice) “Last night, I found a cool video. I really think people should see that, too. So I’m gonna post the stuff on Youtube. Oh, my friend posted his favorite actor’s interviews on Youtube two weeks ago because he’s a huge fan of the actor. The stuff he posted already got tons of clicks. Awesome. Sharing great things in life is making me happy, making others happy, making the society healthy. This social interaction is the backbone of our society. Without the fans who get excited about, talk about, share with friends, promote the STUFF, the stuff would be meaningless. There would not be business without us, right? Besides, this doesn’t go against the law defining the promotion of “the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” In fact, the more we talk about their stuff online, the more free promotions and marketing about their stuff they enjoy, right? The more people know about it, the better. Copyright? What is that? Oh, I’m not supposed to do that? Even if what I do is really helping their business or the society? Have u heard of fan labor, viral marketing, education purpose, fair use, information sharing stuff? Ok, then, How can I do that legally? Who is the rep for permitting the content licensing? How much should I pay for a 0.8 second video clip? Is it even possible to get a permission before sharing? Ahhh… They should be more creative and innovative about the future media business, rather than blocking the future from happening. Otherwise, soon they are gonna be dead fish in the sea.
Oh, How about ‘fair use’? I don’t know much about the law, but I heard about it somewhere. I have my right to fair use and freedom of expression. I’m not sure if I’m correct, but I’m sure I can talk about things and make references to the content if I see fit. Honestly, I think I’m not harming the content owners. I’m just exercising my right to fair use. When I asked my lawyer friend if my stuff would be violating the law or if it could be protected as ‘fair use,’ he said something like ‘oh, you are gonna know when you get sued for infringement and have a hell of a fight in court. Then, the judge will tell you whether it’s fair use or not.’ What?! You must be kidding. Oh, whatever. It seems complicated. I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing now.”
Besides, there is nothing good on TV. Not just Wednesday. It’s just non-stop very bad reality shows. Too many of them. I cannot even tell the difference between them. Still should I stick with them? Oh, wait. If my stuff posted on Youtube somebody else reposted without my permission gets more hits than those bad contents owned by Viacom, can I claim my right to get paid as well if Viacom gets paid from the lawsuit?

(Referee’s voice: Judge Louis L. Stanton on June 23rd): Well, Google wins. Google’s compliance with take-down notices was within the language of the Safe Harbor provision of DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). -> Huh?! (Which means that ‘in short, internet companies, even if they know they are hosting infringing material, are immune from copyright liability if they promptly remove works at a rights-holder’s request — under what is known as a takedown notice’-quoted from David Kravets’ article on Wired: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/dmca-protects-youtube/) If you are curious about the details, check out what the Judge really said. The entire text of the Judge’s decision is found here.

http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/press/pdf/msj_decision.pdf

(Media Executives’ voices: June 24th, 2010 in NY): “Sigh… Good old days are gone. We used to have the finite number of channels, mostly in the form of TV/Cable channels. The business model was simple. We simply gather interesting contents and delivered it to the audience, thus creating the value as a medium. Who paid? Usually advertisers or subscribers. There are only three business models in the world: ‘I pay, you pay, or somebody else pays.’ Nowadays, a billion mobile devices in this country only. Consequences? There are millions of channels now!! We now have to compete with those million channels out there for the audience’s eye balls and time, which is finite resources we should fight for. The other day, my two-year-old grand-daughter was playing with an iPad, having fun with some apps on the iPad, while giggling. She cannot even speak. OMG. What Steve Jobs has done? My 16-year-old son does not watch TV anymore. He claims TV is boring and the internet is more fun. In this digital age, Kids don’t care whether it’s a big TV screen, or small mobile screen, as long as they can get the content they want whenever wherever. What should we do to save our business? … The entertainment/media business is all about hits. Creating hits or killer contents would be able to save our ass. Usually, however, traditional media companies’ attempt to take over the technology/internet world went through a plethora of failures, killing entrepreneurship or reading the trend all wrong… Maybe, they didn’t even realized that something like Facebook itself is a hit. Maybe, we might have to redefine the meaning of ‘Contents.’ Facebook or iPhone Apps may be the new form of contents…. We need hits. (Participating media executives: Shelly Palmer, a host of “Digital Life with Shelly Palmer; Rob Barnett, Founder and CEO, My Damn Channel; Albie Hecht, CEO, Worldwide Biggies; Lisa Hsia, SVP, Digital Media, Bravo; Kenny Miller, Co-Founder, Starling TV)

(Me)
The fear of the traditional media and content businesses is real and well alive. I can feel that they really feel the chest pain and feel like having a heart attack. No joke. This may sounds like out of the blue, but the conversations among the media executives reminded me of a 90′s book called “Who Moved My Cheese?” The world is changing really fast. Technology is changing fast. People’s behavior is changing fast. You don’t have to go far. Just think about your jobs or career or relationships. Do you really know what’s coming? You dare to say. Can you really move fast before somebody else moves your cheese? Anybody can really see what’s coming??? And act accordingly? Can you really see or feel Viacom’s outcry or media executives’ chest pain? Hmmmm…. Difficult ones.

Viacom is determined to pursue the next round of the legal fight (so-called appeal). This legal fight would carry significance in the future of the media or in the future of the internet/mobile world. It’s gonna be interesting to watch who’s gonna win the fight and its implications. Who’s gonna be the ultimate winner? Or there is gonna be another fight over something like ‘Net Neutrality’ in another ring? Who knows? The Empire might strike back, waging a different war with different parties… Ahhh… “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”, as repeatedly confirmed by Lenny Kravitz.

( For your entertainment… Try listening to this while reading my long text: ‘It ain’t over ’til it’s over’ by Lenny Kravitz)

…Oops… I didn’t intend to post this. I only copied the url to the song. But somehow, strangely, it appeared on my blog… keeping my fingers crossed that it’s considered to be fair…