![]() See Mat Ombler, Should Streamers be Worried About DMCA Strikes on Twitch?, GamesIndustry (Jul. see also Gabe Gurwin, Twitch Remains King of Livestreaming, But YouTube is Catching Up, DigitalTrends (Feb. Joseph Yaden, What is Twitch? DigitalTrends (Oct. The DMCA is out-of-date, and to keep up with Twitch, YouTube, and other streaming outlets, Congress is overdue for an assessment of the statute. Ultimately, the DMCA has not achieved its intended Congressional purpose of curbing copyright infringement since, in practice, it stifles “a wide array of legitimate activities.” Eliminating potentially copyrighted works until a counterclaim arises also creates a gray area with fair use rights and may chill expression and creativity. Additionally, with its substantial growth, Twitch would have a significantly difficult task of negotiating licenses with owners of copyrighted materials to provide licensure to its streamers. More prominent streamers with larger viewership and sponsorships, and therefore more money, are able to negotiate with artists and acquire the resources to avoid these strikes unlike streamers who are less known or just starting. First, the DMCA is outdated and is often applied unequally in the video game and streaming industry. The flood of strikes caused streamers, viewers, and other actors in the industry to question the way in which the United States law handles copyright on the internet. This heightened copyright threat concerned streamers since they are “unsure which pieces of content violated, or continues to violate, the rules and don’t want to be banned, and they’re upset about old content being deleted without their involvement.” Fast forward to 2020, Twitch again saw a large influx of takedown requests under DMCA in June. Fortunately, a prominent YouTube streamer “KeemStar” had resources and connections to reach out to the artist and overturn the ban. ![]() The rapper’s music played during a Fortnite tournament, and since streamers included it in their videos while streaming the game, the label felt it was not adequately compensated and thereafter pursued legal action. In June 2018, several streamers were issued a 24-hour ban from Twitch for copyright violations, largely issued by rapper Juice Wrld’s label. Ĭopyright strikes and bans that result from DMCA takedown notices started in 2018 and recently picked up again as Twitch grows its userbase. Consequently, under copyright law, streamers who receive three copyright strikes will have their account terminated until they dispute the strikes with a counterclaim. The DMCA “allows for websites like Twitch to host user-generated content under a provision colloquially known as safe harbor.” This safe harbor provision allows Twitch to issue strikes or take down videos that contain copyrighted material as it becomes aware of it so long as it adopts a “repeat offender policy” that requires it to remove users who continue to violate this rule. This increased oversight leaves content creators in a panic since compliance may impact income, viewership, and sponsorships. copyright law and archive old streams or issue strikes for clips that contain copyrighted music under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) so that it can avoid litigation. ![]() As Twitch continues to grow in popularity, it works to abide by U.S. Because users have flexibility to stream what they want, legal issues often arise when copyrighted music plays in clips of a stream, whether as background noise, in-game music, or some other form. Since its creation in 2011, Twitch grew exponentially and is now the most used platform for streaming video games, especially since Amazon bought it in 2014. Twitch is a relatively new platform that attracts individuals world-wide to stream any content they want from music, cooking, Q&A sessions and, most popularly, video games.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |