All Things Digital

Skip to main content.

SEARCH
BoomTown

BoomTown

The BoomTown FeedFollow Kara on Twitter

“Here Comes Another Bubble” Takedown!

by Kara Swisher
Posted on December 11, 2007 at 11:43 AM PT

Print Post to Twitter

So, it turns out YouTube actually can protect copyright!

In this case, that’s too bad, since the video-sharing service just took down the very popular music video parody called “Here Comes Another Bubble,” by San Francisco’s Richter Scales, which we first posted here and which has taken off like wildfire around the Web.

The video opens, in fact, with a BoomTown video of an interview with Facebook investor Peter Thiel, who talks about there not being a bubble (of course there is, Pete!).

But we did not mind the use of a snippet of it without permission, since it seemed like fair use in a parody.

So what’s the problem? Well, someone sent YouTube a take-down request and the company honored it without contacting the Richter Scales first.

Here’s the video:

By way of background, the hysterical video is sung to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and perfectly nails the Web 2.0 mania better than pretty much everyone in Silicon Valley.

Print Post to Twitter Comments Tagged: BoomTown, Internet, Kara Swisher, digital, music, video, , , , , | permalink
We’ve launched a new commenting tool, Disqus. For the full story on all of its functionality, click here. To begin commenting right away, you can log in below using Facebook Connect or Disqus—you can also log in using an existing AllThingsD account. Learn more about how Disqus collects and uses information in connection with the comments tool.
  • I liked the video, too, BUT...he did use photos and content without giving attribution. Fair use doesn't mean you can use content without attribution, at a minimum.
  • Yes, but they're singers, so give them a break, I say.
  • Yaniv Copeliovitch
    You can still see the video live on Metacafe: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/958560/here_comes...
  • Jon Garfunkel
    (Hi Shelley. Fancy seeing you here. Small world.) I thought the video was hilarious. But I'll add, having seen many lame reaches from the copyfight community for an expansion of fair use, this is a case where something undeniably creative was nipped by an over-reactive Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

    What's rather unsettling is that the complainant remans anonymous. Well, that's DMCA for ya.
  • Freya Anderson
    "Fair use doesn’t mean you can use content without attribution, at a minimum."

    Actually, attribution is not necessary for fair use. They're two separate issues. In this case, I think that the Richter Scales may be guilty of plagiarism (although I wouldn't go there in this context), but not of copyright infringement. Too bad the video was taken down at YouTube.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Latest BoomTown Posts

BoomTown Archives »

Latest BoomTown Videos

More Videos »

View All Jobs | Post a Job Job Listings

A sponsored service from SimplyHired

BoomTown Posts by Date

BoomTown Posts by Category

BoomTown Posts by Tag

Amazon AOL Bebo Bill Gates Bing blog board California Carl Icahn Carol Bartz conference content deal Dow Jones earnings eBay email Hollywood iPhone Jerry Yang layoff Mark Zuckerberg microblogging movie MySpace news News Corp. New York partnership revenue Rupert Murdoch San Francisco share start-up Steve Ballmer Steve Jobs stock Sue Decker takeover The Wall Street Journal Time Warner Wall Street Wall Street Journal Web 2.0 YouTube

More BoomTown Tags »

About Kara

Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference. Read more »

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

Read more »