Back in December Terry Cavanagh, developer of VVVVVV received a strange message from Youtube; they’d taken down the trailer for his game because they said it infringed on copyright for a song he owned. An odd mistake for Youtube to make but they’re a huge company and mistakes are made.
Cavanagh filed an appeal.
A month on and Youtube responded, rejecting his claim.
This was the original problem back in December:
Uh, I’m sorry, WHAT? Apparently my own video trailer of VVVVVV has a copyright claim against it? pic.twitter.com/sQfGyBBpxg
— Terry (@terrycavanagh) December 17, 2013
And now:
I disputed it and waited for them to resolve it – and they’ve now rejected it and reinstated the claim: pic.twitter.com/oj97kPvPxW
— Terry (@terrycavanagh) January 24, 2014
Cavanagh owns the rights to use the SoulEye music in VVVVVV yet someone has filed a copyright claim against the video anyway. Despite being the game’s creator, video uploader, and rights holder Youtube has sided with the complainant instead of him. A ridiculous situation.
We’ve emailed Youtube for comment.
