The NFL has taken the position that uploading a clip of its copyright notice to YouTube is itself a copyright violation. I have three observations: (1) This offends common sense; (2) If the law holds that posting a copyright notice is a copyright violation then the law is, to quote Dickens, an ass. (But the law is not an ass, and neither is Wendy Seltzer, who uploaded the notice. She is a lawyer well versed in copyright law); and (3) The NFL legal department is oblivious to the idea of negative PR.
Obviously, powerful copyright holders like the NFL or Viacom no longer care much about the finer points of law or public relations. They’re like werewolves driven by a feral compulsion to hunt out prey whenever the moon becomes full. When will the townsfolk take up weapons in opposition? I don’t know, but the werewolves are sending out takedown notices in bulk now.
And those are a lot easier to create than silver bullets.
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