Another bogus copyright claim; I’ve had enough. Goodbye, Youtube

This morning Youtube sent me another automatically generated “copyright claim” on a half-minute portion of Moonscape.

Video title: Moonscape part 7 - Samples and Photos v1.0 (English) 720p
Copyrighted content: No Function (Scott Fraser Surface Pressure Mix)
Claimed by: [Merlin] aboveboarddist

The “content” is just Neil and Buzz talking with Mission Control while they’re on the Moon. No music, no sound effects; just voices from the original NASA recordings.

As a consequence of this bogus claim, the alleged “copyright owner” is now monetizing Moonscape. In other words, making money off my work, which I offer for free.

This is not the first time. I’ve had at least six Youtube copyright claims against Moonscape, and all were retracted after I disputed them.

Once again, I am disputing the bogus claim by following the steps detailed here: I stated that the material is the public domain or unsuitable for copyright protection. I then added the following explanation for disputing the claim:

The disputed material is a NASA recording of the Apollo 11 Moon landing and as such is NOT copyrighted, as stated in NASA's copyright rules at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html. The claimant appears to be claiming copyright on US government property.

Youtube now says “Your copyright dispute is currently being reviewed by the copyright owner. You'll receive a response within 30 days from when you filed the dispute.”

I’ll update this post when I receive Youtube’s response. I will then delete all my copies of Moonscape from Youtube (I‘ve just finished deleting every one except the one in dispute).

I’ve had enough of this time-wasting hassle. Moonscape is now hosted on Vimeo and can be viewed here.

Footagevault has mysteriously ceased trading

Footagevault, the film and video restoration company that digitized the 16 mm footage shown in Moonscape, no longer exists. This poses substantial problems for the development and updating of the Moonscape project.

I became aware of this recently, when I tried to get in touch with Footagevault on behalf of a French documentary company interested in obtaining the raw footage that I used for Moonscape.

The Footagevault.com site is closed. Archive.org has archived copies indicating normal trading up to April 30, 2013; the next archived copy, dated May 17, 2013, only shows these words:

Due to the commencement of legal proceedings against Footagevault Limited
and the officers of the company, the Footagevault website and other
associated IT services have been indefinitely suspended.

Officers of Footagevault Limited
Managing Director: Dr / Prof Christopher Riley
Company Secretary: Jacqui Farnham

All enquiries are now handled by Corp Legal Services, email london@corplegalservices.com

According to Companies House britannica, Footagevault Ltd, Company no. 06153564, was closed due to “insolvency” and “voluntary liquidation” on April 19, 2017, due to a wind-up procedure which began on September 16, 2014.

This closure appears to be linked to the fact that “Difficulties arose due to a dispute between the director and a former employee which led to the Company's website being shut down making ongoing trade untenable”.

More information is at Collectspace (2013). Wikipedia's entry for Footagevault is here. The company’sTwitter account is inactive since 2010.

Chris Riley, former director of Footagevault, currently has a website at www.chris-riley.net.

What does this mean for Moonscape? Basically two things: I can no longer purchase any additional Apollo 11 footage from Footagevault (and therefore expansion of the documentary will be a challenge) and the copyright status of the raw footage I purchased from Footagevault is uncertain (but there shouldn’t be any issue with the edited and processed version of the footage shown in Moonscape).

Sorte misteriosa per Footagevault

Footagevault, la società di restauro di filmati e video che realizzò la scansione delle pellicole 16 mm usate in Moonscape, non esiste più “a causa dell’avvio di procedimenti legali” nei suoi confronti e questo pone problemi notevoli per gli sviluppi e aggiornamenti del progetto Moonscape.

Sono venuto a conoscenza di questa novità di recente, quando ho tentato di contattare Footagevault per conto di una società francese che produce documentari e che era interessata ad avere i master usati in Moonscape.

Il sito Footagevault.com è chiuso e su Archive.org se ne trovano copie d’archivio che indicano attività normale fino al 30 aprile 2013; la copia successiva, datata 17 maggio 2013, reca solo questa dicitura:

Due to the commencement of legal proceedings against Footagevault Limited
and the officers of the company, the Footagevault website and other
associated IT services have been indefinitely suspended.

Officers of Footagevault Limited
Managing Director: Dr / Prof Christopher Riley
Company Secretary: Jacqui Farnham

All enquiries are now handled by Corp Legal Services, email london@corplegalservices.com

Secondo la Companies House britannica, la società Footagevault Ltd, Company no. 06153564, è chiusa per “insolvency” e “voluntary liquidation” dal 19 aprile 2017, a seguito di una procedura di chiusura avviata il 16 settembre 2014.

La chiusura sembra legata a una lite fra il direttore e un ex dipendente: “Difficulties arose due to a dispute between the director and a former employee which led to the Company's website being shut down making ongoing trade untenable”.

Altre notizie sono presso Collectspace (2013). La voce di Wikipedia dedicata Footagevault è qui. L’account Twitter dell’azienda è fermo dal 2010.

Chris Riley, ex direttore di Footagevault, ora ha un sito presso www.chris-riley.net.

Che cosa implica tutto questo per Moonscape? In pratica due cose: non posso più acquistare altre immagini di Apollo 11 da Footagevault (e quindi sarà difficile estendere il documentario) e lo stato di copyright delle riprese originali che ho acquistato da Footagevault non è chiaro (ma non ci dovrebbero essere problemi con la versione montata ed elaborata mostrata in Moonscape).