VIACOM LAWYERS have claimed that a gentleman infringed its copyright by showing some of its VH1 show Web Junk 2.0 on Youtube. The problem is that Viacom appears to have stolen the content in the first place from the same guy they are complaining about.
Independent film maker Christopher Knight made the videos around a Star War's theme when he stood for the local schoolboard. VH1 liked the idea of someone pitching themselves by using the Death Star to blow up a little red schoolhouse and ran it on its Web Junk 2.0 program.
They forgot to tell Knight and he heard about it from friends. He didn't mind too much. The program was witty and it did give him 15 minutes of fame. Writing in his bog, Knight said that he was so proud that he posted the segment featuring it on YouTube just like he had posted the original commercial.
As far as he was concerned it was fair use considering Viacom had done the same thing to him. Next thing that happened was that he got a note from YouTube saying it had taken down the flick because Viacom had complained. Knight was incandescent with rage - after all, Viacom took a video he had made for non-profit purposes and without trying to acquire his permission and used it in a for-profit broadcast. And then when he made a YouTube clip of what they did with his material, they charged him with copyright infringement and had YouTube pull the clip.
Now he is thinking of suing Viacom. More here:
http://theknightshift.blogspot.com/2007/08/viacom-hits-me-with-copyright.html
