[UPDATE] ESL DOTA abuses DMCA features to strike down commentators

[apm]

10 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

I don't think they was too happy with the backlash from the community tbf. In my shoes, I'd wanna remove the shit in the shoe with one swift flick, not mush it around. 

they werent happy that ESL filed false DMCA claims for their game. there wasnt any other content ESL had the rights to.

[ItsMitch]

6 minutes ago, apm said:

they werent happy that ESL filed false DMCA claims for their game. there wasnt any other content ESL had the rights to.

I'm very much aware

[divito]

40 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

Valve gave a statement out, pretty much telling ESL to go fuck itself when it comes to DMCA strikes

http://blog.dota2.com/2018/01/dotatv-streaming/

The first statement by Valve basically says that they're the only ones permitted to send DMCA notices. Did they confirm that ESL sent fraudulent notices? Because this almost reads like people were blaming ESL, when Valve is expressing that they're the ones running the show.

[JuNex03]

18 hours ago, Evanair said:

Here's the meat and potatoes of the problem.

 

Believe and Should and Think: These are not statements of fact; They are beliefs held and not contractual.  They didn't say that "Anyone is able to..." they said they "believe they should," which in itself are two completely different statements. 

Commercial Manner: Define commercial.  Even if the video itself is not monetized, it can still be considered commercial use due to bringing views to a channel with other videos or streams.

 

Official Broadcasters Content: Again, super vague and subjective. What ESL considers their content is probably anything and everything within the building hosting, anything that has any inkling of content from ESL, anything filmed on their cameras or mics, displayed on their TV's, rain through their cables or internet hosting service/stream.  

 

Copyright is a GIGANTIC net which is setup to protect the original creator of the content, not those who want to use it.  If a content creator of ANY kind (be it commercial enterprise or solo YouTube uploader) feels they have had their copyright violated, most of the time they are correct.  Fair Use is VERY narrow and a fine line to prove in court.

Well looks like Valve gave a much more clarified statement.

On ‎24‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 6:51 PM, SC2Mitch said:

UPDATE

ESL has issued a statement but no apology for the streamers they took down:

Valve has since issued a statement clarifying the use of DMCA strikes and the use of Dota TV.

 

Valve gave a statement out, pretty much telling ESL to go fuck itself when it comes to DMCA strikes

http://blog.dota2.com/2018/01/dotatv-streaming/

 

[ItsMitch]

1 minute ago, divito said:

The first statement by Valve basically says that they're the only ones permitted to send DMCA notices. Did they confirm that ESL sent fraudulent notices? Because this almost reads like people were blaming ESL, when Valve is expressing that they're the ones running the show.

The streamers themselves stated they was DMCA'd by ESL then that started the fire storm on Reddit.

[divito]

Just now, SC2Mitch said:

The streamers themselves stated they was DMCA'd by ESL then that started the fire storm on Reddit.

Are there screenshots somewhere? I don't Reddit.

[ItsMitch]

 

2 minutes ago, divito said:

Are there screenshots somewhere? I don't Reddit.

ESL's confirmation they did issue some strikes

 

[divito]

So outside of BTS (and who else?), at least the solo streamers will be able to cast now that Valve has specified everything.

[ItsMitch]

Just now, divito said:

So outside of BTS (and who else?), at least the solo streamers will be able to cast now that Valve has specified everything.

It just seems it was them, I think ESL trying to poke Bulldog (ti winner btw) tipped the community over the edge. I'm not a fan of how it turned out. But yeah it's nice Valve actually responded to the mess this early. 

[xAcid9]

On 1/26/2018 at 8:25 AM, SC2Mitch said:

Valve gave a statement out, pretty much telling ESL to go fuck itself when it comes to DMCA strikes

http://blog.dota2.com/2018/01/dotatv-streaming/

Nice, now all they need to do is release HL3 to undo the backlash.

On 1/26/2018 at 9:20 AM, divito said:

So outside of BTS (and who else?), at least the solo streamers will be able to cast now that Valve has specified everything.

Similarly established english caster like joinDota, GD studio i guess. 

 

I hope SingSong will livestream ESL Genting game with this shitstorm cleared. 

[Blackie Sheen]

On 24/01/2018 at 10:18 PM, wanderingfool2 said:

Well, I would argue they still have the copyright's of the stream.  The owning of the game material doesn't make too much of a difference, but rather that they hosted the event.  It is like e-books, if a book store made a sponsored event where someone famous did a reading of a popular book live (assuming they had permission by the author) and recorded it to "sell" later, they would own the copyrights.  The act of creating an event, with the concept of streaming is enough to claim copyright (and even though there are other ways that it could stream, doesn't mean that it doesn't violate copyright)

The analogy your making is not truly representative of the situation that is criticized right now. ESL does not own  the camera footage in general nor the game audio compared to someone reading out a book and making a stream out of it. The content he produced is his. Not to say that ESL does not own any content. They do. But all they own are the particular camera angles and the commentating that they make on the stream. The general gameplay footage, which means everything that can be captured with DotaTV would still be owned by Valve.

 

The case here clearly states that the streamers did not use ESL camera angles,footage or commentating so there is nothing valid to ESL's claim. If ESL used a proprietary medium to capture in game footage would be a different thing al together but this is not the case. ESL is using DotaTV itself, which doesnt give them any advantage over anyone else except being able to monetize their own take on the games they stream.

 

Furthermore, I'd like to point out that, just like stated in the last paragraph or so of the OP, Valve themselves said that no one was allowed to issue DMCA takedowns other then Valve themselves except if the exact camera movements and audio that are used are the same. 

Quote

The first issue we’ve been seeing discussed is regarding DMCA notices. This one is very simple: No one besides Valve is allowed to send DMCA notices for games streamed off of DotaTV that aren’t using the broadcasters’ unique content (camera movements, voice, etc).

-snip

It’ll be our judgment alone on who violates this guideline and not any other third party’s.