YouTube has just censored a channel specializing in the analysis of Japanese anime like One Piece, Naruto or Dragon Ball. At the request of the rights holders, the American platform blocked 150 videos which violated the copyright law in force in Japan.
For several years, Mark Fitzpatrick, an American Youtuber, made a name for himself by offering analyzes of Japanese anime, such as Dragon Ball, Naruto or One Piece, on YouTube. The channel, called Totally Not Mark, has more than 600,000 subscribers. As reported by our colleagues from Kotaku, the videographer has just found himself in the viewfinder of Toei Animation, a major Japanese production company.
The Japanese firm claims that the Totally Not Mark channel violates copyright laws in force in Japan. Within 24 hours, Mark Fitzpatrick received up to 150 copyright infringement claims. “During the past twenty-four hours, I have fallen into disbelief, shock and sadness as my life’s work has been unfairly taken from me”, testifies Mark Fitzpatrick in a video posted in response to Toei Animation.
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YouTube complies with Japanese copyright law
“Two nights ago I received an email informing me that 15 of my videos had generated copyright infringement complaints and were blocked by Toei Animation. […] When I woke up this morning a total of 150 videos were blocked ”, continues the American videographer, assuring that the videos represent 3 years of work. Mark Fitzpatrick points out that his company’s main source of income has gone into smoke. Mirroring many creators, like the famous Player of the Attic, he believes that the censorship applied by YouTube is abusive.
The YouTuber claims that his videos nonetheless respect copyright laws. In fact, several of the censored videos did not contain any anime clips. As Kotaku reports, copyright laws in Japan are very different from the US laws on which YouTube is based.
Japanese law gives all artists significant control over their works. “The author has the right to preserve the integrity of his work and his title against any distortion, mutilation or other modification against his will”, indicates Japanese law. The authors of an animated film are therefore in a position to prohibit videographers from evoking their productions on YouTube. For memory, YouTube censored over 80 million videos in 3 years, despite complaints from the creators.
Source : Kotaku