The FUSE Network is trying to take any YouTube video that’s of the Whitney Houston Funeral as their own, when they are not. Further, that includes videos that fall within the fair use legal rights of the video maker to use the video clip for news commentary. That’s what I did here and the video of the Costner speech did not come from FUSE, it was emailed to me by a friend and I added over two minutes of my commentary to it and it was the same telecast seen on about a dozen channels in America; I watched USTREAM:
FUSE is passing itself off to YouTube as if it had exclusive rights to the telecast of the Whitney Houston Funeral, when it did not. As the Washington Times reported “several cable television networks and one prominent radio station plan to air live coverage of the funeral.”
The Washington Times forgot to mention that USTREAM and LiveStream (in conjunction with the Associated Press) also covered the entire event online, including Kevin Costner’s Eulogy. The funeral on Saturday was covered by CNN, Fox News, Black Entertainment Television (BET), Bounce TV, and E!, USTREAM and LiveStream, not just FUSE.
Yet, with all of that, FUSE dared to claim YouTube upload videos that do not belong to them. I discovered this when I uploaded the video and a note came up that it “matched third party content,” and mentioned FUSE as the organization claiming the video as its own. This one:
Your video, Kevin Costner At Whitney Houston Funeral Talks Bodyguard, Race, Love, may have content that is owned or licensed by Fuse.
No action is required on your part; however, if you are interested in learning how this affects your video, please visit the Content ID Matches section of your account for more information.
Sincerely,
– The YouTube Team
I immediately challenged the FUSE claim without hesitation.
You have disputed a copyright claim on your video, Kevin Costner At Whitney Houston Funeral Talks Bodyguard, Race, Love .
To see the details of the dispute you filed, click here.
I have never seen an act of just hubris in the almost six years I have been on YouTube. That means, for those who don’t challenge FUSE – I am doing so – FUSE is trying to collect ad revenue they are not entitled to.
That’s wrong and it’s hard to believe a company like FUSE doesn’t know DMCA law. As the blog Internetcases reports, false DMCA takedown claims are against the law. But what FUSE is doing is trying to apparently skirt the law – instead of asking for a takedown, it claims it has the right to get money from ads put up against it that would normally go to a YouTube Partner who uses the video for news commentary, as I have done.
FUSE is wrong.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll