YouTube Channel Operator Infringed Extreme Weather Videos: Complaint
The operator of the NA Weather YouTube channel copied, downloaded and monetized videos belonging to Viral DRM in violation of YouTube and Google AdSense terms of service, alleged a copyright complaint Wednesday (docket 3:24-cv-00731) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco.
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NA Weather operator Uong Sy Thanh copied Viral DRM’s works in order to advertise, market and promote NA Weather, said the complaint. Thanh edited the downloaded works, removed Viral DRM’s copyright management information and uploaded infringing versions of the plaintiff’s works to YouTube, the complaint alleged.
Viral DRM videographers cover “weather extremes,” including tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, blizzards, volcanoes and climate change impacts, said the complaint. Viral DRM is affiliated with Mississippi-based WXchasing, a video production company that creates videographic works that Viral DRM syndicates and licenses; Live Storms Media is a licensing broker of video content owned by or exclusively licensed to Viral DRM and WXchasing, it said.
Live Storms Media and WXchasing operate “popular and valuable” YouTube channels, with Live Storms Media claiming over 350,000 subscribers and 19,000 videos on its YouTube channel at the time of the complaint; WXchasing had over 65,000 subscribers and 475 videos on its YouTube channel, the complaint said. The channels are viewed by large numbers of California residents “who also view advertising placed on the videos on those channels by YouTube,” it said.
Viral DRM’s videos of extreme weather events are “frequently copied, downloaded, and reuploaded by infringers,” said the complaint. When infringement occurs to Viral DRM’s copyrighted works, the plaintiff is “is injured and damaged in California,” losing out on potential sales or licensing revenue, the complaint said. When Viral DRM’s works are distributed on YouTube without its permission, it damages the plaintiff’s reputation “as a professional source of valuable extreme weather video content and makes it more difficult for Viral DRM to negotiate valuable licenses from clients and potential clients in California in the future,” it said.
YouTube and AdSense terms of service state that YouTube channel operators are not allowed to upload content that includes third-party intellectual property without permission from the party, “or are otherwise legally entitled to do,” said the complaint. They stipulate operators are responsible for the content uploaded to YouTube and may be liable for copyright infringement claims arising from their content, the complaint said. Terms also say YouTube may remove or disable access to any content it believes infringes on someone else’s copyright, it said.
NA Weather is “extremely popular and valuable,” and Thanh earns “significant revenue from the performance and display of pirated video content,” said the complaint. The defendant “monetized the videos it stole from Viral DRM” through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), it alleged. To be able to monetize videos on YPP, a channel must have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months in order to apply for the program, the complaint said. When ads are displayed on a YouTube channel’s videos, operators earn a portion of the revenue generated by the ads. Depending on the number of ad impressions, viewer engagement and the advertisers' bidding, creators generally receive about 55% of the ad revenue, YouTube 45%, said the complaint.
Thanh had access to and downloaded Viral DRM’s videos hosted by YouTube from Viral DRM’s affiliated Live Storms Media YouTube channels or Facebook pages, said the complaint. Once downloaded, the defendant edited the pirated videos to remove Viral DRM’s watermarks and metadata, combined the pirated videos with other video content “that it either stole from others or created itself,” then posted the videos on its YouTube channel “to earn monetization revenue,” it said.
In addition to copyright infringement, Viral DRM asserts claims of misrepresentation and fraud, removal or alteration of copyright management information, and falsification of copyright management information. Viral DRM seeks an order that NA Weather be preliminarily and permanently enjoined from committing the acts alleged, the complaint said. It also seeks actual damages attributable to the infringement, statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, plus pre- and post-judgment interest.