One of the darker threads of Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available) is how complex copyright enforcement systems can be a
There are several issues here. One concerns the cavalier manner in which YouTube dealt with this situation – sadly, by no means an isolated incident. As the Public Citizen post explains, one of the video takedown victims was John Underwood, who had posted on YouTube videos of Shakespeare performances by a local non-profit group called Shakespeare by the Sea.
When he received notice that two of his videos had been removed because a takedown notice sent by Coallier, Underwood followed the DMCA rules, and sent a counter-notice. He not unnaturally assumed that would resolve such a clear-cut case, not least because Shakespeare by the Seas assured him that it had not relied on Coallier’s claimed version of the Shakespeare plays for their performances. But YouTube ignored the official DMCA procedures and refused to acknowledge Underwood’s counter-notice, or even forward it to Coallier. This was not a one-off: other targets of Coallier’s take-down had also had their counter-notices ignored by YouTube. So Underwood contacted Coallier directly.
shakespearenews.com
