copyright

concept · in 15 videos (2007–2013)

Mentions by year: 2007: 2 · 2008: 2 · 2010: 4 · 2011: 3 · 2012: 2 · 2013: 2

What the videos say

2007

• 2007-02-23 · Brotherhood 2.0: February 22nd: Where Do Books Go? — Hank admits downloading books and reading them online; he doesn't feel bad because their authors, like Alexandre Dumas, aren't trying to make a living. (00:02:56)
• 2007-08-31 · August 31: Copyright and Airports — Hank and John had their phone call with the YouTube partnership people yesterday; Hank says it was a 45-minute lecture on copyright law. (00:01:20)
• 2007-08-31 · August 31: Copyright and Airports — Hank learned that a dance can be copyrighted: if a dance is choreographed, it is copyrighted. (00:01:43)
• 2007-08-31 · August 31: Copyright and Airports — Hank calls dance copyright very sad, since he can no longer do the Macarena in his YouTube videos. (00:01:43)

2008

• 2008-02-21 · People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes — Given an hour with a Disney character, John would ask Mickey how it feels to be single-handedly responsible for the death of reasonable American copyright law. (00:01:24)
• 2008-06-02 · Tetris Day! — Hank thanks Russia for Tetris and notes the Tetris song is a folk melody and so not protected under US copyright. (00:02:57)

2010

• 2010-05-04 · Net Neutrality in the Shower — Hank says the telecoms found that 85% of bandwidth is taken up by BitTorrent, and decided to throttle it since those users are breaking the law anyway. (00:01:27)
• 2010-05-04 · Net Neutrality in the Shower — Hank argues it is not the telecom companies' job to enforce the law, and that we should not make it their job. (00:01:57)
• 2010-06-05 · YouTube vs. Viacom The Battle Explained — In his description Hank concedes that YouTube knew copyrighted clips were being uploaded. (00:00:00)
• 2010-06-05 · YouTube vs. Viacom The Battle Explained — Hank, voicing Viacom, reads an email from YouTube co-founder Steve Chen: removing potential copyright infringements would cut traffic and virality to maybe 20%; YouTube calls it out of context. (00:01:59)
• 2010-06-07 · Viacom PWNED on Piracy — John says Viacom, which hates piracy, will surely pay Coulton $37, or $13,823 if views are worth what it claims, unless it defines piracy as stealing from someone with a lawyer. (00:02:56)
• 2010-06-09 · Should We Sue Viacom? — Hank says this is illegal and should stop, not just for their video but for all the copyrighted videos Viacom puts on Spike.com; he'd happily sue for 60 cents. (00:01:56)

2011

• 2011-11-18 · Top 5 Reasons ████ ██ ██████ — Hank says fair use is still fuzzy in law, so Akira's creators could challenge him, and American copyright law needs to be better. (00:00:48)
• 2011-11-18 · Top 5 Reasons ████ ██ ██████ — Hank says he loves and needs copyright law and doesn't want John's books stolen, but doesn't want Congress meddling with the internet. (00:00:55)
• 2011-11-18 · Top 5 Reasons ████ ██ ██████ — Hank argues anti-piracy legislation stifles creativity and economic growth; Machinima thrives on technically illegal content that copyright holders welcome, so copyright law is not too lax. (00:01:52)
• 2011-11-22 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — Two audiobooks are possible because Brilliance shared the audio rights with him innovatively; John says that is how copyright law works when it works. (00:01:09)
• 2011-11-22 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — John says Hank, in his last video, correctly called the copyright measures before Congress 'a steaming hot slice of crazy'. (00:01:24)
• 2011-11-22 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — John argues copyright is complex: posting a quote from his book on Tumblr is fine, posting the whole book is infringement, and where the line falls is ill-defined. (00:01:34)
• 2011-11-22 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — John argues copyright law currently privileges people like 2011 John, who can pay an estate $500 or so, and punishes people like 2004 John, who could not. (00:02:42)
• 2011-12-27 · Project for Awesome and Truth or Fail — Truth or Fail option two: The Twelve Days of Christmas, written in 1909, is still under copyright after repeated extensions and cannot be performed on the show. (00:02:18)

2012

• 2012-01-20 · Thoughts on SOPA From New Orleans — Hank loves street performers because they remind him of the internet: you never know what you'll find, amazing or horrible, sometimes bordering on illegal, often freaky, often using copyrighted content. (00:00:38)
• 2012-02-14 · Things I Can Do — John says he is not a fan of illegal disruptions of content delivery systems: stealing has been around a long time and there is nothing revolutionary or cool about it. (00:02:26)

2013

• 2013-01-11 · On the Ownership of Ideas — Hank says Disney likewise made existing stories (Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella) into movies, but is now the primary force behind extending copyright length 'forever'. (00:01:55)
• 2013-01-11 · On the Ownership of Ideas — Hank says the good news is that the internet is making this obsolete: fewer and fewer corporations enforce copyright as they used to because there is too much derivative work. (00:02:10)
• 2013-01-11 · On the Ownership of Ideas — Hank says this arrangement is not law and not really legal, but everyone is happy, so the law doesn't come into it; corporations deciding what's okay is worrisome. (00:02:53)
• 2013-01-29 · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters — John says people and ideas still need some copyright protection; otherwise a network like CBS could take the Vlogbrothers videos, air them and keep all the money. (00:00:00)
• 2013-01-29 · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters — Replying to Hank's video on the ownership of ideas, John agrees that current copyright law is 'a hot slice of crazy'. (00:00:00)
• 2013-01-29 · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters — John sums up: his book written in the US inspired a painting by a reader in the Philippines, which inspired a poster by a reader in Norway, and international copyright law isn't ready for that. (00:02:18)
• 2013-01-29 · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters — John says we need better copyright law, but meanwhile must do well by each other and each other's ideas; for him that means welcoming fan fiction, music and art inspired by his books. (00:02:48)
• 2013-01-29 · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters — John says that until copyright is untangled and the laws improve, we will have to police ourselves, and the internet is actually pretty good at that. (00:03:17)
• 2013-01-29 · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters — John thinks the most important things are that the internet stays vigilant, that people try to be fair to each other, and that copyright law never makes us afraid to create, the opposite of its purpose. (00:03:17)