In an unexpected turn of events, the director of the Pirate Bay documentary TPB-AFK has sent takedown notices to YouTube requesting its removal. The director states that he sees the streaming portal as a radicalizing platform full of hate. The takedowns are not without controversy, however, as TPB-AFK was published under a Creative Commons license.
The only legitimate takedown I can see is is the non-commercial clause. If YouTube is making money off streams, wouldn’t that be a license violation?
That’s a question for the court. It may sound cut and dry, but it’s really not. In the US legal system, other people don’t stop having rights just because you have rights. There are 3 entities at play here, the author of the work, the uploader, and YouTube, all of which have rights. But the author of the movie limited (intentionally) his rights by releasing the work under Creative Commons. The user has the right to upload the video to YouTube. That is not in question. The question is whether or not YouTube is beholden to the original Creative Commons license. They didn’t upload the media, and the media was legally uploaded and for all intents and purposes must follow YouTube policy which is their right to monetize.
This isn’t a case of someone uploading a copy-written movie and YouTube making money off of it, it’s much more complex and anyone telling you different doesn’t understand the actual legal issue here.