Live data from Hacker News

With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

waxy.org

111–120 of 219 posts

Re: With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

#111

So if I understand this correctly... YouTube took these videos down based on a copyright (DMCA?) claim. Which of course isn't a court ruling or anything. At the same time, no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected. (Otherwise shows like Saturday Night Live couldn't even exist.) After all, the end result is no different from a really good vocal impersonator.…

It's not obvious to me that it's parody. Is it actually making fun of Jay-Z? Is it parodying his songs? His voice? It's not a caricature, it's not commenting on Jay-Z's character or vocal styles or lifestyle or opinions.

Re: With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

#113
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2015 I had an unusual solicitation from a recruiter on LinkedIn - as a lawyer this in my experience is a rarity unlike tech where I understand it to be common place - with interest in offering me a General Counsel position with Romero Britto's Company. Turns out Apple engaged in discussions to license (or maybe commissioning) Britto's Art, but then Apple turned around and essentially just "knocked off" of Britto's…

Out of interest, if someone contacts you in this manner, do you/they have an implicit attorney/client privilege? Or is it only after you come to an agreement to represent them? Or is it more of a rule of thumb?

Privilege begins once the client and the attorney have agreed on representation.

Re: With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

#114
post #64

This was approached all wrong. The first highly publicized demos of singing generated like this should have been of dead people - Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Elvis. First, it's not clear who has the right to sue, and in what jurisdiction. Rights associated with those people have been transferred and resold enough times that there's no clear claimant. Second, many people have impersonated those voices, so there's a…

Deepfakes (a better term is needed) are by their nature derivative works, which copyright already handles with the original's owner retaining rights which have to be acquired. I have absolutely no problem with it. If you don't own the copyright to your entire training data set, you are infringing by publishing something the model produces as I see it. The courts or the legislature are going to have to address how you…

> If you don't own the copyright to your entire training data set, you are infringing by publishing something the model produces as I see it.

Imagine if that were true - a human artist couldn't create anything, because everything in the world around them is their training set!

I think it has to be a likeness test - if an average person would think its a real Jay-Z music video, then it's a derivative work. Don't muddy it with the implementation details of how it was made.

Re: With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

#115

So if I understand this correctly... YouTube took these videos down based on a copyright (DMCA?) claim. Which of course isn't a court ruling or anything. At the same time, no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected. (Otherwise shows like Saturday Night Live couldn't even exist.) After all, the end result is no different from a really good vocal impersonator.…

The definition of parody is somewhat vague, and parody is often subtle. It seems difficult to define and enforce objectively.

The youtube definition is "Whoever has the most money is correct"

Re: With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

#116

So if I understand this correctly... YouTube took these videos down based on a copyright (DMCA?) claim. Which of course isn't a court ruling or anything. At the same time, no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected. (Otherwise shows like Saturday Night Live couldn't even exist.) After all, the end result is no different from a really good vocal impersonator.…

> no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected

Not a lawyer, but...

It doesn't seem like parody to me. It also doesn't seem like it has much of anything to do with copyright at all - one of the videos taken down was reportedly a performance of an excerpt from Hamlet, which is definitely in the public domain.

On the other hand it does seem like a possible violation of trademark law, but I have no idea how that would play out in court. Which is confusing, because I thought the DMCA only applied to copyright (it's the Digital Millennium _Copyright_ Act, after all) but perhaps I'm wrong and it includes provisions about trademark as well?

Re: With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

#117

So if I understand this correctly... YouTube took these videos down based on a copyright (DMCA?) claim. Which of course isn't a court ruling or anything. At the same time, no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected. (Otherwise shows like Saturday Night Live couldn't even exist.) After all, the end result is no different from a really good vocal impersonator.…

These concerns should better be handled by other kind of law such as defamation, not the copyright or patent or trademark. The exact definition of defamation varies between jurisdictions so what constitute to be the defamation is another problem though.

Re: With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

#119
post #64

This was approached all wrong. The first highly publicized demos of singing generated like this should have been of dead people - Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Elvis. First, it's not clear who has the right to sue, and in what jurisdiction. Rights associated with those people have been transferred and resold enough times that there's no clear claimant. Second, many people have impersonated those voices, so there's a…

Deepfakes (a better term is needed) are by their nature derivative works, which copyright already handles with the original's owner retaining rights which have to be acquired. I have absolutely no problem with it. If you don't own the copyright to your entire training data set, you are infringing by publishing something the model produces as I see it. The courts or the legislature are going to have to address how you…

Whether or not something is a derivative, or it is a new transformative work is is legally transformative in a lot more cases than you would expect. Cariou v. Prince page 4 and 5 is the most famous example, and even this minimal change is legally transformative. https://cyber.harvard.edu/people/tfisher/cx/2013_Cariou.pdf

Re: With questionable copyright claim, Jay-Z orders deepfake parodies off YouTube

#120
post #116

So if I understand this correctly... YouTube took these videos down based on a copyright (DMCA?) claim. Which of course isn't a court ruling or anything. At the same time, no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected. (Otherwise shows like Saturday Night Live couldn't even exist.) After all, the end result is no different from a really good vocal impersonator.…

> no court would ever uphold this removal, because it obviously falls under "parody" which is protected Not a lawyer, but... It doesn't seem like parody to me. It also doesn't seem like it has much of anything to do with copyright at all - one of the videos taken down was reportedly a performance of an excerpt from Hamlet, which is definitely in the public domain. On the other hand it does seem like a possible violat…

> Which is confusing, because I thought the DMCA only applied to copyright (it's the Digital Millennium _Copyright_ Act, after all) but perhaps I'm wrong and it includes provisions about trademark as well?

As far as I know, a legally enforceable "DMCA takedown" can only be about copyright infringement. However, YouTube is under no obligation to not honor takedowns that aren't legally binding.

Post reply on HN