Well, well, well… YouTube sent a cease and desist letter to Mr. Mike Arrington (TechCrunch). The delicious irony is they are citing copyright infringment. That is just laugh-out-loud crazy talk from YouTube of all places!
(BTW, TechCrunch has certainly done its fair share of promoting YouTube. “We love it,” they said in Aug 2005. Seems ungrateful, doesn’t it?)
I have been predicting for a while that YouTube will not thrive long-term because it would eventually become uncool. I didn’t expect it to become uncool by beating up on its fans but this could be the start of something. We’ll see.
Look at some of the comments from TechCrunch:
The irony is insane though…… my head is going to explode.
Youtube is really starting to suck.
Is it just me or is GOOGLE starting to suck more and more too?
And the fall of YouTube begins…
YouTube appears to be another case of getting to the top then falling off the cliff. It sounds like the beginning of the end for YouTube.
It also makes me very sad that, since Google now owns YouTube, they are in someway involved in this….and it really makes me question my respect for them.
A quick search of the YouTube terms on Nov 15, 2006 yields this nugget:
If you download or print a copy of the Content for personal use, you must retain all copyright and other proprietary notices contained therein.
I’m no legal expert, but it is clear in the terms that there are different terms for Website content and User Submissions. Here’s a bit from the section on User Submissions (emphasis mine):
For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting the User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube’s (and its successor’s) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the YouTube Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the YouTube Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service.
So if the YouTube Video Download Tool is obtaining the videos via the YouTube Website, I really don’t see how they can claim any violation.
The one legitimate point they have, IMHO, is the name of the tool. Rename it the Goober Video Download Tool and all should be fine.
Shame on you, YouTube. Not cool.