14 DAY TRIAL // The short story so far: Chris Knight produced three TV commercials which were offered to the local television. The first one, named "Christopher Knight for School Board TV Commercial #1" was taken by Viacom and included into its VH1 show, Web Junk 2.0. Please note that this video was used without the approval of the original author.
Because the producer was quite proud that his clip appeared in Viacom's show, even without his authorization, he uploaded the video on the famous YouTube video sharing platform. After some time of availability, Viacom demanded YouTube to remove the clip because it infringes its copyright as the media company didn't offer the approval. So, Chris Knight is accused of infringing the Viacom copyrights, the company that stole its original copyright. Quite funny if you just read it, but some people might see this entire case as an abuse.
"I was quite aware that they were using my own not-for-profit work for commercial purposes and that they should have contacted me. But I didn't really care that they were doing that, either. It was just nice to see something that I had worked on getting seen and appreciated by a lot more people than what I had intended for a local audience. And I was glad that Melody Hallman Daniel, the voice-over actress in the spot, received some widespread notice of her considerable talent," Chris Knight explains the reason for not requesting Viacom to remove its clip from the show.
The interesting fact is that Chris Knight might be accused of copyright infringement, as the YouTube removal notification sustains. "Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability," the email message sent to Chris Knight reads.
The YouTube and the Viacom representatives didn't comment on the problem but the original author of the clip wants to promote the case to prove the other content owners that it's not impossible to fight against the large media companies: "I want to publicly declare this: that I am not out for any money. Not a single penny. All I want is for the clip to be restored to its original address on YouTube. And I want it to be established that other creators of content have a right under Fair Use to show how their works are being appreciated in the wider world. I just want the rest of us who aren't affiliated with corporate media to have as much right to use our own work as "the big boys" enjoy for theirs."