YouTube Copyright Strikes: A Creative Plague

So, there I am on YouTube, and I see this video pop up in my subscriptions, so I watch it:

Now, I don't advocate skipping the video to read my response, but I understand if you do. However, it is a short video, so by all means, watch it. If you don't have time, I'll give you the gist of it: Listverse filed a bogus copyright claim on YouTube against a channel called Top 15s. Their claim? That the owner of Top 15s plagiarized Listverse's work for a reason that was never explained.

The odds are that Listverse filed a copyright claim based on a shitty top 10 list they did (which I won't list, because, you know, fuck those guys) which they felt looked similar to the video top 15's did. Of course, Listverse only listed 10 while Top 15s listed 15, but, you know, logic. In reality, all Top 15s was guilty of was listing the same names of a few of the drugs listed on Listverse's list (and not even all 10). It really isn't even sound logic because Listverse does not own a copyright on the names of these drugs. If Top 15s is guilty of plagiarism then so is Listverse because they clearly got their information from somewhere as well. That's neither here, nor there, though. That's just one example of YouTube's broken copyright system that's come out as of late.

Van Halen would have filed a copyright claim against Savage for
using their guitar in a music video, but they didn't want to admit
they were mentioned in this movie.

I think a lot of people probably know where I'm going with this. So, let's all just say it together: COOL CAT LOVES YOU! Actually, Derek Savage, creator of Cool Cat Loves You, also put out a large number of bogus copyright strikes on people that reviewed his movie. The most notable strike was against YouTuber IHateEverything.

You may think to yourself, "Well, this IHateEverything fella seems like a loving and nice guy, but he used clips from from Savage's movie, and what's fair is fair." In reality movie reviews and parody are protected under "fair use" laws, which allow for these things. In other words, Mr. Everything (or is it okay if I just call you IHate?) and the other reviewers weren't guilty of violating any copyright laws, but were still the victims of a copyright bully. That's kind of what happened with Top 15s.

There is good news for those that are dealing with copyright bullies. Thankfully YouTube is stepping up and protecting users from these unfair copyright strikes. So, don't worry, anyone that's been the victim of an unfair copyright strike. You're going to be safe.