December 21, 2006
YouTube & JASRAC - The Real Story
Posted by Devin
There’s a bit of confusion on the YouTube - JASRAC discussion.
Earlier this week, JASRAC written to YouTube asking for a preliminary screening system for video clips and a series of provisional measures, including posting messages in Japanese about “illegal uploads”. A screening system (to catch AMV’s and fansubbers?) would prevent copyrightable material from being posted. They also want (1) additional copyright warnings on the frontpage; (2) “[r]egister the names and addresses of those users making uploads and to keep such records” (that’s real physical addresses, not IP addresses) (3) terminate users who uploaded the 30,000 videos that were deleted in October.
However, Ars Technica has some interesting comments on the matter:
We haven’t seen more of this kind of thing in the US because the DMCA provides a “safe harbor” to sites like YouTube that allow users to create and upload content. So long as they remove infringing material promptly after receiving a takedown notice, they are generally in the clear.
According to Chosaq, Japan also has a similar safe-harbor exception to the US - DMCA Act.
In an effort to prevent more controversy, the YouTube founders have traveled to Japan to meet with JASRAC. Many people felt Youtube’s policy of “post first, remove in infringing” would be challenged by traditional American entertainment companies. For now, they’re work with YouTube for a slice of the advertising stream.
Side note: JASRAC wants the copyright notices in Japanese on the home page, signaling that they feel a certain % of the Japanese population are watching our postings. Clearly, the days of ‘regionless’ video are moving ahead, whether the studios want it or not.
Credit: Chosaq, Ars Technica
Filed To: Distribution / Over in Asia / Digital / Licensing
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December 15, 2006
From the Archive: Re-Mixing J-Media, Part III: Lessig and The Long Tail
Posted by Devin
During Thursday’s Long Tail lecture at the NYPL hosted by Chris Anderson, Laurence Lessig, presented his continuing lecture on RO vs RW culture. RO (Read-Only) refers to the iTunes or other works that are produced by Hollywood studios, copywrited and locked for consumer use. Its RO because we watch in and don’t change it… RW (Read-Write) culture is remixing media,like all those YouTube videos. Or if you want a classic examples of RW culture, how about some AMVS: clips from Thisu Kissu by Inertia of ManyLemons Produtions & Muppet Hunter D by Zury_Talbourne and Miyuna.
Lessig continues to use axamples of AMV’s (and other arts of remixing culture) as examples of RW culture. Places like Youtube, Flickr, and blogs all encourage you to re-mix the RO culture into your own. Its the mixing of RO culture can generate RW ‘viral’ results that then spread in the wild.
Filed To: Distribution / Licensing
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Welcome back
Posted by Devin
This blog has been on vacation for the last 11+ months. If you’re visiting, I’ll try to summarize the missing time with some posts over the next few days.
A little summary of what’s been happening the last few months:
Just when you think the manga market can’t grow anymore, more companies and their ‘nitch’ properties make themselves known. We’ve got a little ways to go: in 2002 Japan exported 36.1 billion yen in manga sales to France and 4.7 billion yen in the U.S. compared with 520 billion yen within Japan. (Translation: In 2002, about $60 Mil USD in the US, compared to $400 Mil USD in France) Digital properties continue to develop as manga producers are starting to use new technologies such as mobile phones, Internet streaming and video on demand, both as means of marketing and distributing their properties. I’ll show some examples in the next few days Asian digital music continues to be unavailable in the United States. With the launch of iTunes Japan, will be seeing j-pop available for download sometime soon?
Filed To: Licensing / General
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