That didn’t take long. On Feb. 8, I posted to YouTube a clip taken from the Super Bowl: not the football, but the copyright warning the NFL stuck into the middle of it, wherein they tell you it’s forbidden even to share “accounts of the game” without the NFL’s consent.

Their copyright bot didn’t seem to see the fair use in my educational excerpt, so YouTube just sent me their boilerplate takedown. Time to break out that DMCA counter-notification.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Video Removed: Copyright Infringement
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:43:24 -0800 (PST)
From: DMCA Complaints
To: peppercornconsider 

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following
material as a result of a third-party notification by National Football League claiming
that this material is infringing:

Super Bowl Highlights: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4uC2H10uIo)

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of
your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future
strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the
rights, and  refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights
of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the
"Copyright Tips" guide: http://www.youtube.com/t/howto_copyright.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, to be effective it must be a written
communication provided to our designated agent that includes substantially the
following (please consult your legal counsel or see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g)(3) to
confirm these requirements):

(A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.

(B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been
disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or
access to it was disabled.

(C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief
that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification
of the material to be removed or disabled.

(D) The subscriber's name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that
the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial
district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber's address is outside of
the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be
found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who
provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.

Such written notice should be sent to our designated agent as follows:

DMCA Complaints
YouTube, Inc.
1000 Cherry Ave.
Second Floor
San Bruno, CA  94066
Email: copyright@youtube.com

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who
knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled
by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

Update: Here’s the NFL’s demand (not very informative).

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