This Video is Unavailable': Analyzing Copyright Takedof User-Generated Content on YouTube

• Author: Kristofer Erickson - Martin Kretschmer
• Pages: 75-89

“This Video is Unavailable”

2018

75

1

“This Video is Unavailable”

Analyzing Copyright Takedown of User-Generated Content on

YouTube

by Kristofer Erickson and Martin Kretschmer*

© 2018 Kristofer Erickson an d Martin Kretschmer

Everybody may disseminate this ar ticle by electronic m eans and make it available for downloa d under the terms and

conditions of the Digital P eer Publishing Licence (DPPL). A copy of the license text may be obtain ed at http://nbn-resolving.

de/urn:nbn:de:0009-dppl-v3-en8.

Recommended citation: Kris tofer Erickson and Martin Kr etschmer, “This Video is Unavailable”: Analy zing Copyright Takedown

of User-Generated Content on YouTube, 9 (2018) JIPITEC 75 para 1.

Keywords: Copyright; parody; notice-and-takedown; fair use; YouTube; music industry

portional hazards model to investigate propositions

from rightholder groups about the factors that moti-

vate takedowns: these include concerns about com-

mercial substitution; artistic/moral concerns; cultural

differences between firms; and YouTube uploader

practices. The main finding is that policy concerns

frequently raised by rightholders are not associated

with statistically significant patterns of action. For

example, the potential for reputational harm from

parodic use does not appear to predict takedown be-

havior. Nor does commercial popularity of the original

music track trigger a systematic response from right-

holders. Instead, music genre and production values

emerge as significant factors. We suggest that evolv-

ing policy on intermediary liability - for example with

respect to imposing filtering systems (automatically

ensuring “stay-down” of potentially infringing con-

tent) - should be carefully evaluated against evidence

of actual behavior, which this study shows may differ

materially from stated policy positions.

Abstract: What factors lead a copyright owner

to request removal of potentially infringing user-gen-

erated content? So-called “notice-and-takedown”

measures are provided in the United States under

Section 512 of the U.S. Copyright Act (as amended by

the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998) and en-

abled in the European Union under the Directive on

Electronic Commerce (2000/31/EC). While the com-

bination of limiting liability (“safe harbor”) and notice-

and-takedown procedures was originally conceived

as a means of balancing innovation with the inter-

ests of rightholders, there has been limited empiri-

cal study regarding their effects. This research inves-

tigates, for the first time, the factors that motivate

takedown of user-generated content by copyright

owners. We study takedowns within an original data-

set of 1,839 YouTube music video parodies observed

between January 2012 and December 2016. We find

an overall rate of takedowns within the sample of

32.9% across the 4-year period. We use a Cox pro-