Copyright Aid

Hello everyone - new user here. I saw another post describing a very similar situation, but it seems to have gone cold, so I would like to open up the topic again.

One month ago I uploaded a YouTube video about billionaire's yachts. It was a "tier list" video where I talked about a variety of billionaire boats and ranked them, adding entertaining commentary and giving the backstory/most interesting info on each boat.

A few days ago I received a copyright strike from a company in the Netherlands. 7 clips in my video had used their footage (the clips were from 5 different videos of theirs). The clips were all very short (a few seconds each), totaling up to 15 seconds throughout the 16+ minute video. The video had around 400k views and was monetized. I used footage from a variety of sources in the video, as I don't show my face. However, I regrettably did not credit the sources of each piece of footage.

The video was highly edited and had music, commentary, and graphics throughout. Nearly every clip had graphics added on top. It took well over 100 hours to put together, from scripting to editing (not that this is a legal defense).

I disputed the strike as I believed the use to be highly transformative. The company sent me an email back. They are quite unhappy. They pointed out that their "about" section clarifies they do not accept downloads even for "fair use". Not reading this "about" section may go down as one of the greatest regrets of my YouTube career.

The company has given me 3 days before they forward the case to "Visual Rights Group" to start a legal procedure.

I'm now wondering how to proceed. I obviously believe that my content qualifies as fair use, but I fear the wrath of "Visual Rights Group" and a potential lawsuit. AndyJ in the previous thread explained that VRG wouldn't be the one suing - but as their website advertises their network of lawyers and legal support, my fear of them is not abated.

I am located in the US, the copyright owners are located in the Netherlands, and VRG is located in the US. When sending the original dispute, YouTube had me agree to the following: "I consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the district in which my address is located, or if my address is outside of the United States, the judicial district in which YouTube is located, and will accept service of process from the claimant."

I’d greatly appreciate any opinions, similar experiences, or legal insight, especially regarding the real risk of legal action here and how these threats typically play out.

Thanks for your time and help.

Hi zxlmxltx1 and welcome to the forum.

As you live in the US you have a strong advantage in that the courts there are more likely to accept your fair use defence than would be the case in Europe. That said, I don't think the VRG or anyone else is going to take you to court based on what you have told us. The odds are not in their favor. Furthermore, under US law (US Code Title 17) you are not required to provide a credit where fair use is being claimed. The statement on the video company's website about not allowing fair use downloads has no legal validity.

I think it is highly unlikely that the copyright owners would seek to sue you in the Dutch courts (even though they might have a greater chance of getting a win there) because they would have no way of enforcing a judgment against you while you were in the USA. At best, they could use a Dutch judgment in their favor to pressure Youtube to close your account, but that is an expensive way to get that result.

Don't be too concerned about VRG. They may bluster and threaten but ultimately they have to face the reality of the chances of success if the claim went to court. Without that, their threats are empty. As in the UK, only the copyright owner can actually start a court case in the US Federal courts (see § 501b of the US Copyright Act 1976).

As for Youtube, if you file a valid DMCA counter-claim with them, they are supposed to reinstate your channel or the affected videos, and leave it up to the Dutch company to make the next move.

AndyJ - thanks for the response!
As an update - I sent them an email reaffirming my fair-use belief but asking for what they had in mind for a resolution, and they responded by asking me to pay them EUR 1500 on Paypal as friend/family for them to remove the strike. They also claimed that when VRG takes care of cases like this "the settlement is average EUR 2500-5000 + legal costs".
Based on your advice, I think I will hold my ground.