"KNOCKING" LEGAL ACTION AGAINST WATCHTOWER COMMENTS (page 5)

Elsewhere

I looked at the link provided in the complaint but I could not figure out which video they were talking about.

Which one is it?

mkr32208

Replace it with three seconds of someone pissing on a copy of 'knocking'

honestly I never like the intro anyway. That woman raising her hand didn't add anything to the feel... Ditch her and start over with no intro pics of people just go right at it with your wt coverage. You'll still rattle those cages.

Persecution shows that your doing the lords work! :)

V

Its official!

Received via Watchtower Comments YouTube Channel:

Your "Watchtower Comments" videos are illegally using copyright-protected footage from KNOCKING, a documentary broadcast on PBS. The introduction to all your videos uses the same clip from KNOCKING of a woman raising her hand during the Watchtower study in a Kingdom Hall. You do not have permission to use this footage. Please delete it from your videos, as well as any other footage you may have taken from KNOCKING. You use of the footage does not pass "Fair Use" standard and violates U.S. Copyright law. We will ask YouTube to block these videos if the illegally obtained footage is not removed.
Joel Engardio
Tom Shepard
KNOCKING documentary

kwr

Obviously you are a copyright terrorist. You should be made to go to Kingdom Hall meetings for the next six months.

sacolton

V:

Just snip the hand-raising clip and repost. Your information is too important to be tie-up in copyright issues.
Once you've made the edits, there will be nothing to stop you. They are just reaching for any little thing to
keep you from opening the eyes of others. As for the comments, don't put too much concern into them ...
those of us who subscribe will definately return to fill it up again.

Don't let this get you down. Keep making these great videos!

Layla33

I don't think they own the copyright for this material, I really don't. Was this an email from an attorney? Until you get an official letter from an attorney, don't be intimated, but at the same time cover yourself. They can sue you and they can get you to pay monies for this usage if they do own the copyrights. My dealings with copyrights is that they are not the original owner of this work. The original owner is the WTS, unless they actually went in and taped this footage themselves.

I think you should speak to an attorney about this. I have two friends that are civil attorneys, one who specializes in intellectual property. I would suggest having a one time meeting with an attorney that deals with intellectual property to help you deal with this. My suggestion is to disable it for the time being.

sacolton

Unfortunately, YouTube doesn't check all the facts. If they get a complaint about copyright then they will either warn
the owner to delete the videos or they will do it themselves and viewers will be welcomed to a "Copyright Violation"
notice as to why to video is not available. YouTube doesn't have the staff to check out every little complaint to see if
it is a valid reason - once they get a legal notice they take action. It would be time-consuming to pursuit this in a
legal case in court and probably cost more than it's worth (I'm sure the WTBTS would be happy to throw money into
this case in their favor).

Make the edits and repost.

DT

The original owner is the WTS, unless they actually went in and taped this footage themselves.

I believe they did tape that footage themselves. This link discusses the Watchtower Society's role in that film http://www.knocking.org/watchtower.html

This is a quote from that page, "KNOCKING's camera crews were also allowed to film at a district convention of Jehovah's Witnesses, inside local Kingdom Halls and accompany Witnesses in the door-to-door visitation work."

If I remember correctly, that short scene was part of a longer clip that included some of the featured Witnesses in that film, so it appears unlikely that this was Watchtower archival material, although that was also provided by the Watchtower Society.

Layla33

V, I really truly believe that you can find footage that is fair use or public domain. My advice is to go with public domain. Look for every online and offline (at a library) information that you can substitute, but if you believe they own this copyright, you have to take it off or else get a copyright permission - which could take forever. I have gotten copyright permissions in one day and others that have taken up to two months. Speak with the person who owns the copyright, apologize (ignorance always helps), that this is your first time doing this and that you would like to use their information. They could turn you down, they could say yes - and document it, with a written letter. If you need I can send you over a copyright permission letter, it's pretty simple. You fax it over, ask them to sign it, and they fax it back.

I am not sure they will go for this, but with all the footage out there of JWs from news footage, it should be too difficult to get it. You will just have to pursue a permission or use public domain.

I hope that helps. I support what you are doing and I don't want you to be dissuaded by this. It is a lesson about using other people's intellectual property and it will help you in the future, as you move forward.

"KNOCKING" LEGAL ACTION AGAINST WATCHTOWER COMMENTS

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