The Story So Far a small while back I
helped an upand cominging Pony reviewer
composer a song that she was then hoping
to have animated for no wait stop to
truly understand you're going to have to
come back a little further a million
years ago a few members of an adult
fandom surrounding a certain cartoon
show for children noticed that their own
very existence was somewhat interesting
filled with love tolerance and more than
a smattering than not gaze this click of
Cool Cats collected some crowdfunding to
make a documentary about it all the
centerpiece of which would be a certain
world-renowned personality and voice
actor from the TV show itself things
seem to be squeaking along un rogered
right up until launch when much like in
Anna's 90th the rogering went viral yeah
you see by and large it turns out most
people interested in seeing a fan-made
movie about Bronies had already paid up
front by a wide margin anyone beyond
that just pirated it this came as a blow
to everyone involved and none more so
than everyone's favorite voice actor who
voiced his emotions some somewhat
crestfallen Say It Ain't So Chief
Bronies the nicest sharing EST caring
fandom in the world Pirates how could
you how could you do this to this
beautiful man you going to stand for
this well no said one brassy lady from
the Cotton Belt yes deep within the US
of a a certain young YouTuber assembled
herself a team of overworked underpaid
artists to square The Ledger and all my
good Granny's glittery GS this is where
we began a small while back yours truly
helped an upand cominging Pony reviewer
compose a song that she was then hoping
to have animated for
[Music]
a video tribute to one John
Delany welcome to the Hatter's
party we serve a delicious storm the
video turned out to be a hodg podge of
charming elements including analysis
funny convention anecdotes salutations
from fans and of course one great big
musical cartoon to to mirror the one in
the documentary and for what it was it
did really rather well if we could who's
this pretentious get I took it all back
it's a piece of garbage but popular
garbage at least it was at the time of
writing this show is now gone possibly
forever and why well it seems to be the
will of the people I guess which people
oh no oh no yeah I remember all those
overworked under paid people from two
paragraphs ago yeah well that and it
seems to very angry chickens are coming
home to
roost oh honey bunny bunch and boo what'
you go honey do right now there's a
terrifying Lynch Mob at the gates and
burn her burn
her and a Clarion call for the
truth really you want the
truth you know the truth and if not
here's where you can go get get your
daily dose M delicious drama gobble it
up yum yum I love all this TMZ stuff
really TMZ TMZ we're cool really we're
cool and that's nice for you honey bunny
but if you're anything like the rest of
us you too might just be sat there
wondering what the flying Freedom fridge
does any of this have to do with the
aention cartoon ah yes well now we're
hunting a Mewtwo eh of the many
accusations flying around right now A
big one a really really no really
properly big one is that this animation
seems to have been made with some
illicit materials oh yes you see some
say that sometime back in the primordial
year of 2013 someone deep within the
feted fundament of dhx media did the
dastardly leaked official show assets to
the public backing a dump truck full of
proprietary art into the Town Square and
shouting have ye at it oh how at it the
kids did have you it was a free-for-all
the pading wisdom at the time being oh
this is something they do right dhx is
cool and it took a whole year before
alarm Bells started ringing all of a
sudden it seemed a Spate of copyright
claims and even an official takedown or
two were introduced over at everyone's
favorite public platform.com this
quickly LED some to hypothesize that
perhaps the corporation was failing the
YouTube banhammer randomly smashing even
unrelated videos in an attempt to plug
the leak by then for KP and crew it was
all too late then CH is
made thus the whole globe got to goggle
the gooey irony of watching a video made
with leaked intellectual property decry
the sins of piracy oh oh the delicious
double
standard jum be the chocolate sauce and
add all of this to the big pile of B
burn right now this is where things get
interesting with a couple of large
dangly pink points you might find
valuable firstly it's worthwhile
mentioning here that KP and crew never
kept any of this a secret from what I
could tell the handling of dhx's junk
was known to everyone from the get-go
thus Evil Incorporated had themselves
two full years to give a damn and O just
listen to that
fuss secondly and I really didn't think
I'd need to ask this but does anyone
actually think that downloading and
watching a commercial movie online when
you can pay for it and keep everyone
happy really is the same thing is
copying elements of someone else's
intellectual property to create
transformative art and in this case not
for profit art that doesn't affect
anyone's bottom
line huh tell you what we'll put a pin
in that one the director herself has
since mentioned at least quietly that
ultimately it wasn't a good idea and
quote we didn't know any better
yeah you know what speak for yourself
Honey Bunch cuz I still don't know any
better and maybe you cool cats can
explain it to me you want to know the
difference between using ready-made
assets and lovingly handcrafting your
own 20 to 40
hours for faan OT yeah bug at that just
use the
assets what's the beef using actual
media created by the show St is a
massive legal problem definitely not
covered by usual fair use law what dhx
assets are highly illegal even if you
don't make money from them you what we
want you to delete the let's go and meet
John Delany video off of YouTube we are
very aware that you only privatized it
on your channel this is something that
can be easily undone once everything is
died down permanent deletion will ensure
that you your team and the fandom are
protected by possible legal actions from
Hasbro Incorporated the dhx media
limited the fact that you use their
macromedia flash puppets is highly
illegal in the United States it voids
all copyright law including appendix C
the copyright royalty and distribution
Reform Act of 2004 and appendix J title
44 public Printing and documents us code
to simplify they State stealing a
company's assets or supplies and then
used without consent or license from the
original company organization or
copyright owner is illegal we don't want
this to happen to anyone so for the sake
of everyone that works on the project
and yourself please just delete
it holy dly that's a tight lid on a big
jar of pickles yikes I suppose the moral
here is that if you want to work on a
public platform that has anything to do
with copyright law you better know your
facts right so what was that law you
mentioned uh you used flash puppets and
that's highly illegal it voids all
copyright law oh no darling an unelected
citizen can't void any law would that it
were true I think you meant to say
violated I'll just go ahead and redact
that for you there we are
continue uh a violates appendix C the
copyright royalty and distribu oh that's
right so what's the copyright royalty
and distribution Reform Act of 204 to
the Google mobile ah bonsa let's read
this pig copyright and blah blah blah
2004 section one short title this act
may be cited as the copyright royalty
and distribution Reform Act of
2004 you don't say except as otherwise
expressly provided wherever in in this
act an amendment or repeal is expressed
in terms of an amendment to or repeal of
a section or other provision the
references shall be considered to be
made to a section or other provision of
title 17 United States
code it's not all like this is it
J up anony we believe in you you could
read the phone book and it would be
interesting
a right well I don't have any phone
books handy but I do have the copyright
royalty and distribution reform actor of
204 challenge
accepted one in general subject to
paragraphs 2 and three the Amendments
made by this act shall certain Royal
proceedings
the
amending proceedings
[Music]
to United States stod
proed judges proed United States code
shall be available to the extent
necessary to carry out this section
okay so what we've got here is a list of
amendments to something called title 17
United States code and since it only
points out changes to that main body of
legal code it's not practicably possible
to isolate any laws pertaining to fair
use unless one were willing to find the
main body of law to which it relates and
then sort of flip back and forth between
the two comparing
references well all right let's do that
title 17 United States code ah Google
tells me this is about copyright law
freaking finally wow the fada 1300 pages
I don't have to read all of this do I oh
that's right no I guess just the bits
mentioned in the 2004 Reform Act
hhm
so let's go through every single one of
[Applause]
them section 802d pertains entirely to
judgeships vacancies or incapacitations
H that can't be it 8801a judges and
appointments uh no 803 B6 judges
regulations regulations and requirements
H seems like all the 800s are about what
judges are supposed to do when making
rulings ah here we go 119c royalty
determination for TV satellite signals
what 114 F2 ooh this is about sound
recordings next 112e is ephemeral sound
recording
oo hookus pokus hairy fairy who are you
calling a fairy no no as in like furry
as in ephemeral like a fable like a
legend you know like s of doesn't it
doesn't matter 114 D1 C4 knocking at
your door that's more sound recordings
for business this time 804 B2 there's
them judges again B2 3A a23 B1 a and C1
for judges in instituting proceedings
judges procedures and petitions and
judges determination timing excuse me
what's all this got to do with art
assets the last reference that might be
of some use to us is something called 17
USC 114 note Public Law 107 321 this was
a trick to find but I eventually did and
I'll link it to you in the description
in case you want to check my work cuz
I'm not sure if you've had the sheer Joy
of pouring through what turns out to be
six pages of officiously written United
States Congressional house resolutions
the most Salient section of which in the
end turns out to be Provisions for
internet people wait for it paying for
[Music]
music look it might just be me it's
entirely my fault I can't find anything
and whatever but you know what that's
the danger when linking us to a list of
amendments to a body of law instead of
to the actual law itself which makes me
wonder if you could find a law being
stepped on
and why did you just link us to
that did you even look
for that's right there's more you
violated all copyright law including
appendix C the copyright royalty and
distribution Reform Act and appendix J
title 44 public Printing and documents
us
code oh
no oh no not appendix J what the fudge
is appendix J and more important ly why
this Dropbox document let me copy and
paste properly that's the real crime oh
you're going to make me fill in the
thing well here we
go oh merciful mic it's only one page
appendix J title 44 public Printing and
documents us code chapter 21 National
Archives and Records Administration
limitation on liability when letters and
other intellectual Productions exclusive
of patented material Etc come into the
custody or possession of the archist the
United States or its agents not liable
for infringement of copyright or
analogous rights arising out of the use
of materials for display inspection
research reproduction or other
purposes this is immunity for government
employees working in the National
Archives nice
try you jackass is got pouring through
ream after re with the world's densest
legal mumbo jumbo just to end with this
this nonsense gave me a
migraine I legit went blind from this
garbage oh it's a fact Truth Hurts work
good would you really think no one would
check what do you work for iTunes I
guess never underestimate the power of
too long didn't read can I get paid now
Rachel for those playing at home the
teer ldr is that this is utter nonsense
especially this bit cover your assets
kids we don't upset them DC
Librarians oh why do I care so much well
it might be because of this chronic
misinformation and fear mongering which
is really taking a tall on the kids like
I get it we're all furious with
KP but is this really helpful
I appreciate this apparent gesture of
concern here thank you it's very sweet
though speaking as one of the overworked
perpetually underappreciated
collaborators I just assume keep the DK
video up thank you thank you if there's
a problem that exists between Hasbro
Corporation and the lady girl who
controls the channel we're not in any
danger and you're quite welcome to try
and prove me wrong and please if you
think you can find a single law that
this cartoon is in Jeopardy of breaking
then I'll direct you to these people so
that you can ask them why they feel the
need to bend the truth H so maybe this
has a little less to do with Liberty a
little more to do with jabbing a woman
right where it hurts in the most valued
and personal project she's ever produced
great but I didn't spend hours rewriting
songs and coaching people to sing yeah
that was me aren't I amazing and all yes
unpaid just to have my and everyone
else's hard work into The Ether and for
what hate sake or is it really because
everyone's afraid a darling
America Oh beautiful for Pilgrim feet
whose Stern impassioned stress a
thorough Fair of Freedom beat across the
Wilderness America America God mend
thine every
floor confirm thy soul in
self-control by Liberty in
law or you know whatever floats your
boat now we've been confessing each
other's sins for a while now I suppose
it's time to come clean on a few of my
own certainly a lot of Heartache could
have been avoided if her crew had just
created their own Assets in making this
show so did you ever wonder why KP
didn't insist they do just that I mean
what was it to her she wasn't going to
be doing the work and yet when it all
blew up in her face she never threw
anyone under the bus for it as far as I
know in fact in time this woman bested
the internet alone to take
responsibility and I respect that when
the rest of the world giggles and
wondered why she chose to use the Damned
Assets in the first
place
[Music]
why because I told her
[Music]
to
no it's true emboldened by the spirits
of I don't care guess who was the
proudest of pilford Pony picture
promoters I think KP was in the call
when I compellingly argued for the
pitiless duplication of every asset they
could find oh sure you could say that
it's ultimately the lady's production
and her call or you might argue that her
animation team could have said no bug
her off Anthony that's terrible idea but
come on can you really blame
them I've been known to be pretty
persuasive and completely unrepentant
the whole world is wrong you see wrong
and stupid and misinformed and stupid
and wrong and here's
how all right now sit down darling we
don't want you hurting yourself you
right
good I've been using the assets from the
very start
oh here we
go yes this too is true my little
cosmological see he's an Apple Jack
recolor say what that's always got girly
rump like
me not so fast Anthony scribbles what
are you doing here I'm here to set the
record straight dude you are well that's
Jolly nice please have at it your
character is not just a recolor no no no
no no no no you're a hybrid small part
show assets big part original art I see
you drew many of your own faces that's
why you look so funny from the side hey
just telling them the truth bro well
thank you dear now full disclosure you
didn't have anything to do with this did
you nope you're on your own buddy well
cheers anyway try not to Nuke your
channel no
promises and now you want to hear the
shock and twist not only is the
corporation cool with us monetizing the
shows Etc but they actively and
consciously use these videos to
advertise My Little Pony so when some
suggest that using actual material
created by the show stuff is a massive
legal problem definitely not covered by
usual fair use law I'm not certain which
hole they're talking out of is this a
piracy thing we afraid of being
considered Pirates now look I agree
piracy is an issue and ought to be
talked about because a lot of people
feel very strongly about it some so
strongly in fact that they wish all
forms of unlicensed media be banned from
public sites like YouTube they'll try
their darness to make that happen media
such as say fully rendered TV show clips
containing by the way not just show
assets but animation Cycles backgrounds
full voice acting and score which is
then Incorporated by talented artists
into reviews news reports fan-made music
videos and mashups like this friendship
as witchcraft show all of it some say
should be banned for breach of
copyright and you know those people we
call them greedy nearsighted
corporations before crying loudly about
fair use where's the fair use where's
the fair use where's the fair use
where's the fair use oh we like fair use
where's the fair use where's the fair
use where is the fair use isn't it a
clip of a fully produced TV show or
movie for review purposes a clip such as
this which contains again not just show
assets but fully rendered animation
Cycles background elements voice acting
and all that is fair use
right but this
isn't okay well would it be all right
with you if I cut out a section of this
show footage and stuck the assets I want
into an original
setting taken from a fair use clip
remember
no okay well what if I use the show as a
reference to meticulously spend the 20
to 40 hours it takes to make some brand
new proprietary assets as so many have
done and are doing to avoid the legal
trouble yeah yeah I'm sure that'll work
out just
fine no still no good well how about I
take the leaked assets and instead of
just hitting control V to make my fan
art I painstakingly Trace every little
line to reconstruct a near as makes no
difference and functionally identical
set of rigs so similar that you didn't
even notice which is which and sits in
my library right alongside the never to
be used again Originals to vouch safe
the confidence that these new images
congealed from my own tears sweat and
elbow grease are all right to use
because well now they most definitely
aren't created by anyone else
[Music]
I'm technically correct the best kind of
correct now for all of you not
distracted by your Pokémons of course
the long boring bureaucratic official
term for all of this is [\h__\h] fut
ridiculous this naturally is the
singular example of anything relative I
can find coming close to legal trouble
Jan animation's amazing Button Mash
adventures cartoon Mr Jan's Odyssey into
the world of intellectual property theft
is a bit beyond the scope of this video
but it's at least worth pointing out
that he never used the
assets uh-huh he really is just so
talented and verely ought to be a clue
that whatever irked the corporation here
must run a little deeper than simple
piracy probably has a little more to do
with the company's control over its
money-making ideas and a lot less to do
with leaked assets I personally think
they could have handled things a bit
better can we see the elephant we'll pay
you money for the nith time
now wait a minute this gives me an
idea uh here's a better sign dad I don't
have time to read it just give me the
gist of it son and as for their leaked
assets kindly kind sir kindly find me
one single example of someone getting an
official hot water over the use of these
assets and don't talk to me about
someone who was also uploading a whole
season's worth of shows or whatever no I
mean solely and specifically because of
the use of the
assets produce them for me and then I
will emphatically remind you of a few
Salient points not least of which being
that just because a big Corporation
squashes you on
YouTube doesn't mean they're
right doesn't make it
legal my name is Joshua burner and
YouTube where's the fair use where's the
you know that's just an awesome question
where's the let's find out now my best
Google fol very quickly leads me to the
website of Stanford University and a
comprehensive article on fair use by
attorney Rich stem in his words which
for no reason I will now read to you in
the voice of kryon from Red Dwarf
unfortunately the only way to get a
definitive answer on whether particular
use is a fair use is to have it resolved
in federal court judges use four factors
to resolve fair use disputes as
discussed in detail
it's important to understand that these
factors are only guidelines that courts
are free to adapt to particular
situations on a case-by Case basis in
other words a judge has a great deal of
Freedom when making a fair use
determination so the outcome in any
given case can be hard to
predict now it's possible I'm mistaken
but according to the tastiest legal
brains on Earth this situation is
unresolved sadly fair use is not a
collection of law laws governing every
area of art it's a legal defense one can
employ when someone makes a civil claim
against them in court and only then is
coverage determined by the presiding
judge and yet but no one has provided a
single example of that happening so when
some people insubstantially conjecture
that the use of these assets is highly
freaking
illegal it's not true at the very worst
it seems you might be technically at
risk of being H before a judge
indeed I might be technically a risk of
being H before a judge but you know what
Bring It On Let's have this out we're
really not supposed to be afraid of this
sort of thing and until that time such
as when Hasbro decides it wants to stop
making money out of me and actually
bother to spend some cash dragging me
into court I'll keep my corporate
approved asset riddled cartoons right
where they are thank you very much the
last people on Earth who might have a
legitimate grievance with me aside from
the soul sucking and firing Jan crushing
Bay approving corporation that started
this mess might be The Talented
contractors they hired to create these
Assets in the first place now to these
tireless virtuosos working in glor
anonymity and to whom we all owe so much
I say thank you if any of you wonderful
people feel hardly done by well then I
apologize I'm sorry I wouldn't have that
for the world if you want do get in
contact with me and send all your ey
this way and for everyone one else who
thinks they have an opinion on the
legality or morality of using their
leaked assets to make fan
art you're
welcome now maybe it's time to try and
put the rest of these toys back in their
box dear Rachel
tempestuous
ambitious go-getter
KP a military time short for kitchen
Patrol if you're watching this page and
aren't one of the poor souls still
holding up for Bunny cartoons then
chances are you're a fan of that
marvelous show called My Little Pony
friendship is Magic a fun program about
colorful horsey people learning and
loving and sharing and caring and all
like good time Guff around which has
sprung possibly the nicest worldwide
fandom ever good people who like this
show an episode of which I seem to
remember wherein three little Philly
friends calling themselves the Cutie
Mark Crusaders and finding themselves on
a quest to discover their life's reson
take jobs reporting for a school
newspaper they don't have much luck
until they start filling a gossip column
for which they eventually spread dirt on
everyone they know little do they
realize how badly it's affecting their
reputation until suddenly they find
themselves ostracized by everyone it
gets so bad even the wouldbe princess of
friendship gives the gold shoulder forc
to their lowest point in what is
possibly the saddest moment in the whole
series The Three finally come to terms
with what they' have become and
immediately set about making heartfelt
amends for the callous disregard for
other people's feelings on their rompus
stomp to
success and it works
out it's fine everyone forgives them and
they eventually own every Pony's trust B
it's a bitter little episode but with a
sweet moral one that I'd hope wouldn't
be lost on Bronies those magnificent
Misfit sweet hearts who seem to fit
better in the world of colorful cartoon
horses who adopted for themselves that
masterful motto what was it again you
know the one I
mean ah yes there it is hey I see you
come on yeah that's right burning hell
[Laughter]
forever
oh
[Music]
oh
my name is Joshua burner and that is
just
shameful