[Update at 6:56 pm ET: It looks like Rick Klein will be able to keep the YouTube channel running. Sony’s copyright office emailed Klein after this article was published, saying it would “inform MarkScan to request retractions for the notices issued in response to the 27 full-length episode postings of Bewitched” in exchange for “assurances from you that you or the Fuzzy Memories TV Channel will not post or re-post any infringing versions from Bewitched or other content owned or distributed by SPE [Sony Pictures Entertainment] companies.”

Sony said it’s taking that step because “this is the first time we have become aware of your YouTube Channel posting unauthorized versions of SPE-distributed content, and the unique circumstances therein.” However, Sony told Klein that his channel must remove “similarly infringing posts for other SPE-distributed shows,” pointing out that he had posted episodes from other Sony shows.]

Original story: A nonprofit that preserves classic television videos may have its YouTube channel shut down tomorrow over copyright claims for Bewitched episodes that originally aired in the 1960s.

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television has about 5,000 videos, including many decades-old commercials and news shows, posted on its YouTube channel and its own Fuzzy Memories website. President and chief curator Rick Klein’s “quest to save vintage Chicago TV shows and commercials” was featured in a WBEZ story two years ago.

But after 16 years of Klein and his group, who rely on donors and volunteers, archiving old videos, the TV museum’s YouTube channel on August 30 received six copyright strikes for posting 27 Bewitched episodes owned by Sony Pictures Television. Copyright complaints were sent by MarkScan, a “digital asset protection” firm that content owners hire to enforce copyrights. MarkScan has been sending copyright complaints on Sony’s behalf since at least 2014.

Klein told Ars today that he’s not opposed to the Bewitched videos’ deletion and that he has no intention of reposting them. But over the past few days he has been trying to reach anyone at MarkScan or Sony who can reverse the copyright strikes so he can continue the Museum of Classic Chicago Television’s YouTube channel.

“We have received copyright strikes before, and the majority of the time were able to resolve them outside of the YouTube system—just by, you know, two humans talking to each other,” Klein told us in an email. “It’s hard to have a conversation with a faceless corporate behemoth, though.”

YouTube owner Google provides copyright holders the option of scheduling a removal request to take effect in seven days, which gives the uploader a week to delete the content and avoid a copyright strike. Klein wishes MarkScan had used that less punitive option. “We would have just immediately deleted the videos and that would have been the end of it,” he said. “But they decided to go right to takedowns with immediate strikes, and without even emailing us ahead of time to simply ask if we would remove the videos—which we would have.”

“Arbitrary” copyright strikes

Klein’s predicament was reported yesterday by TorrentFreak, which noted that MarkScan’s copyright enforcement on behalf of Sony is sometimes a bit sloppy. MarkScan last year sent a copyright complaint to Google about Sony content posted on an India-based streaming service that is owned by Sony itself.

Copyright strikes are issued to YouTube page operators when a copyright owner has “submitted a complete and valid legal takedown request for using their copyright-protected content,” according to a support page on YouTube copyright strikes. Three strikes within a short time period makes a YouTube channel “subject to termination.”

Copyright strikes expire after 90 days, but that doesn’t help Klein because he received six in one day. The other options provided by YouTube owner Google are to “get in touch with the person who claimed your video and ask them to retract their claim of copyright infringement” or submit a counter-notification arguing that “your video was removed by mistake, or qualifies as fair use.”

The notification from YouTube to Klein, which he shared with Ars, shows that the channel got five strikes containing five Bewitched videos each and a sixth strike containing two Bewitched videos. Klein said the 27 Bewitched videos were all “from broadcasts and specialty 16mm network prints.” They were all removed automatically as part of the copyright claim process.

“To say this is arbitrary is blatantly obvious,” Klein told Ars. “The videos were all of the same ‘offending’ material… why not just issue one strike for the whole batch? Those videos would still be removed, so MarkScan/Sony would still get what they want. What is the purpose of issuing multiple strikes if not to be cruelly and senselessly punitive?”

Klein said he contacted MarkScan by sending “multiple emails at multiple times from multiple accounts, and to multiple email addresses that we were able to find—all to no avail.” He also sent an email to Sony’s copyright email address.

“We have no issues deleting the material and never uploading it again—that was never the complaint, nor are we asking for more rights to display material than the copyright holder is willing to grant—we’re just asking that if a company doesn’t want something uploaded to let us know first or give us a chance to remove it voluntarily before destroying 16+ years of effort and tens of thousands of hours of work,” he told us.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1965506