"Pickup artist" YouTube channel MattHossZone (previously) has lost his copyright case against a reaction video posted by YouTube channel h3h3Productions. The closely-watched case is a big victory for fair use commentary on video platforms.
Via TechCrunch:
The basic legal question was whether the Kleins’ creation of a reaction video that included clips of Hosseinzadeh’s content counts as fair use. In this case, Judge Katherine B. Forrest ruled that it does.
“The key evidence in the record consists of the Klein and Hoss videos themselves,” Forrest writes. “Any review of the Klein video leaves no doubt that it constitutes critical commentary of the Hoss video; there is also no doubt that the Klein video is decidedly not a market substitute for the Hoss video. For these and the other reasons set forth below, defendants’ use of clips from the Hoss video constitutes fair use as a matter of law.”
h3h3 raised over $100,000 from fans to fight the suit, and after all the stress and money, they have made it a little safer for many kinds of reaction videos across video publishing platforms.
As part of the victory, they re-uploaded the video that led to the failed lawsuit. So enjoy and share:
• WE WON THE LAWSUIT! (YouTube / h3h3Productions)
