I grew-up in Los Angeles and remember the riot in 1992. One video that got much coverage was of a truck driver, Reginald Denny, who was attacked brutally.
Fast-forward to today. Recently, the video wound up on the most popular video site, YouTube.com (the video had more than 1,000 views).
The problem: a helicopter pilot, Robert Tur, owns the rights to the video. And he filed a lawsuit against YouTube.com.
With the enormous growth and popularity of YouTube.com (it's much bigger than other biggies, like Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google), it's inevitable to see a plethora of lawsuits. In the case of the Denny video, the plaintiff will have some difficulties, though. YouTube.com will likely claim it is a mere hosting service and under federal law, it is not responsible for the infringements of its users. After all, YouTube.com did not make money from the video.
That's the good news.
But, this is also the bad news. Keep in mind that popular content, for the most part, is usually copyrighted (for example, it was an illegally uploaded Saturday Night Live clip – "Lazy Sunday" – that catapulted YouTube.com to stardom). And, for YouTube.com to make money, it needs to serve lots of views to advertisers.
So, it is no surprise that YouTube.com is reaching out to traditional media companies and cutting deals, such as with NBC. But, traditional media realizes its power position – and is likely extracting lucrative revenue arrangements. This is likely to put a ceiling on the monetization of YouTube.com and the rest of its online video brethren.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-15-2006 @ 9:30PM
Bryce Notbohm said...
Aren't there anymore Shining Time Station episodes? Because I'm waiting and very excited to see the other episodes. So, please, can there be more?