Why are so many DB creators becoming subject to Toei's wrath?

[Lord Beerus]

As much as I sympathise with what is very clearly a stressful time for TotallyNotMark, given how much time he's put into doing what he does, he should have been put in the time to do more research on the risks of going into this kind of venture (doing video essays and collaboration projections based on anime and manga), ESPECIALLY with how strict and rigid copyright law is in Japan, as well what would be the most legally safe avenue to go down this venture.

I personally think after this whole situation, TotallyNotMark and a lot of other people will become a lot more knowledgeable of copyright law, the extent to which fair use applies and the dangers that can come with potentially stepping on the toes of a company that holds a multibillion-dollar IP very close to their chest.

You would have thought that after how Toei (rightfully) was breathing down the neck of TFS for the DBZ Abridged series for years, that future Dragon Ball YouTubers would approach covering Dragon Ball content with more caution.

Again, it sucks to see how emotionally draining this experience has been for TotallyNotMark, but I can only hope that after everything that has happened that some people come out of this a lot wiser about infringement.

[PerhapsTheOtherOne]

As much as I sympathise with what is very clearly a stressful time for TotallyNotMark, given how much time he's put into doing what he does, he should have been put in the time to do more research on the risks of going into this kind of venture (doing video essays and collaboration projections based on anime and manga), ESPECIALLY with how strict and rigid copyright law is in Japan, as well what would be the most legally safe avenue to go down this venture.

I personally think after this whole situation, TotallyNotMark and a lot of other people will become a lot more knowledgeable of copyright law, the extent to which fair use applies and the dangers that can come with potentially stepping on the toes of a company that holds a multibillion-dollar IP very close to their chest.

You would have thought that after how Toei (rightfully) was breathing down the neck of TFS for the DBZ Abridged series for years, that future Dragon Ball YouTubers would approach covering Dragon Ball content with more caution.

Again, it sucks to see how emotionally draining this experience has been for TotallyNotMark, but I can only hope that after everything that has happened that some people come out of this a lot wiser about infringement.

I think that's entirely unfair to these folks given how the system failed them. The system shouldn't have been capable of simply taking down an entire channel in an instant, and the powers that be should've adapted to modern media systems.

It should be a rigorous process by which any outside enterprises looking to do some checks on content have to review things themselves meticulously, judge their infringement potential within the guidelines of YouTube's own policies and that of the country the individual comes from before their own, etc.

Instead, YouTube is giving companies unilateral control over a decidedly neutral platform to moderate as they please without care for the actual content creators that help bring in an audience for the entire platform, resulting in a wholly unethical ability to simply destroy individuals and groups' livelihoods on a whim without compensation or sympathy, not even an offering for a grace period to discuss terms.

Not to mention that copyright laws, fair use policies, etc., have failed to keep up with the times (especially in countries like Japan) and no longer reflect the reality of how modern media within the non-professional sphere is crafted and meant to be consumed.

[Lord Beerus]

For what it's worth, TotallyNotMark has recently stated he's going to be ending his boycott of Toei and has unlisted his response videos about this whole fiasco and will be taking time to think about how he will approach the future of his channel.

[PurestEvil]

Oh my god, I feel so bad for him. I can't imagine how mentally hurt he felt during the past several days...

[WittyUsername]

Japan probably needs an overhaul in its copyright laws, but that seems unlikely to happen anytime soon.

[PerhapsTheOtherOne]

Japan probably needs an overhaul in its copyright laws, but that seems unlikely to happen anytime soon.

I think it's more of a global thing that needs to happen, honestly.

A lot of laws used to govern the happenings of the internet haven't been updated since the 90s and really only apply to broadcast television, books, etc. The media paradigm has shifted greatly, and the clash between old policies and new mediums like the average independent YouTube video is resulting in the issues we're seeing today.

[Shintoki]

As much as I sympathise with what is very clearly a stressful time for TotallyNotMark, given how much time he's put into doing what he does, he should have been put in the time to do more research on the risks of going into this kind of venture (doing video essays and collaboration projections based on anime and manga), ESPECIALLY with how strict and rigid copyright law is in Japan, as well what would be the most legally safe avenue to go down this venture.

I personally think after this whole situation, TotallyNotMark and a lot of other people will become a lot more knowledgeable of copyright law, the extent to which fair use applies and the dangers that can come with potentially stepping on the toes of a company that holds a multibillion-dollar IP very close to their chest.

You would have thought that after how Toei (rightfully) was breathing down the neck of TFS for the DBZ Abridged series for years, that future Dragon Ball YouTubers would approach covering Dragon Ball content with more caution.

Again, it sucks to see how emotionally draining this experience has been for TotallyNotMark, but I can only hope that after everything that has happened that some people come out of this a lot wiser about infringement.

this was a wonderful lay out of what's going on and i can't second this enough. it's not just TNM, but all other anitubers on this kind of field.

Youtube as well should really really give creators the option to region block their videos so they don't get near the radars of archiac countries like japan.

[Shintoki]

For what it's worth, TotallyNotMark has recently stated he's going to be ending his boycott of Toei and has unlisted his response videos about this whole fiasco and will be taking time to think about how he will approach the future of his channel.

he may have signalled the white flag to toei, but for folks like me who were already barely bothering to get DB stuff officially that jut solidified my conviction that i'm not obligated to support bad anime studios like toei. to the high seven seas it is! arrrrrrrrr

i'll just buy toyotaro's manga instead.

[BootyCheeksJohnson]

As much as I sympathise with what is very clearly a stressful time for TotallyNotMark, given how much time he's put into doing what he does, he should have been put in the time to do more research on the risks of going into this kind of venture (doing video essays and collaboration projections based on anime and manga), ESPECIALLY with how strict and rigid copyright law is in Japan, as well what would be the most legally safe avenue to go down this venture.

I personally think after this whole situation, TotallyNotMark and a lot of other people will become a lot more knowledgeable of copyright law, the extent to which fair use applies and the dangers that can come with potentially stepping on the toes of a company that holds a multibillion-dollar IP very close to their chest.

You would have thought that after how Toei (rightfully) was breathing down the neck of TFS for the DBZ Abridged series for years, that future Dragon Ball YouTubers would approach covering Dragon Ball content with more caution.

Again, it sucks to see how emotionally draining this experience has been for TotallyNotMark, but I can only hope that after everything that has happened that some people come out of this a lot wiser about infringement.

I agree. You should never put all of your time and resources into making YouTube your single business venture. While making money off of your indie work on the internet is easier than ever, YouTube is by far the most unstable/unpredictable platform to attempt this on. Not enough people are knowledgeable of copyright law to think of the risks involved with doing video essays on YouTube. I believe that essays should be protected as journalistic expression, however video essays are a bit weirder. I'm sure there's a case for video essays to potentially be placed under journalistic expression in the same way reviews are, but that's an argument that I'm not even sure where anyone would begin with.
Here's a long and very well produced video by Super Bunnyhop (an actual journalist) on media literacy. Not quite the same as the copyright discussion, but it should help to educate people looking to better understand the journalism aspect of this discussion.
https://youtu.be/fYHrEp917MI

[Adamant]

I'm sure there's a case for video essays to potentially be placed under journalistic expression in the same way reviews are, but that's an argument that I'm not even sure where anyone would begin with.

I'm not a big Youtube guy, but I'm absolutely aware that there's a LOT of very successful Youtubers that make a lot of money by pointing a camera at their face and talking about whatever they're going to talk about. Had this Mark dude done the same, Toei wouldn't have touched him. They don't forbid people from talking about Dragonball on the Internet,, and all these other successful talking head Youtubers kinda disprove Mark's supposed point that nobody would care what he said if he didn't put Toei-owned video clips into his essays.

[Shintoki]

I'm sure there's a case for video essays to potentially be placed under journalistic expression in the same way reviews are, but that's an argument that I'm not even sure where anyone would begin with.

I'm not a big Youtube guy, but I'm absolutely aware that there's a LOT of very successful Youtubers that make a lot of money by pointing a camera at their face and talking about whatever they're going to talk about. Had this Mark dude done the same, Toei wouldn't have touched him. They don't forbid people from talking about Dragonball on the Internet,, and all these other successful talking head Youtubers kinda disprove Mark's supposed point that nobody would care what he said if he didn't put Toei-owned video clips into his essays.

in one hand, you have people like pewdiepie and jacksepticeye that are relevant to what you said but in the other hand, not everyone can hope to keep the numbers up like them if they change their content type. it's a hard situation for sure

[coola]

Found this on one of Discord channels.

[Mr_CINDER]

Found this on one of Discord channels.

I said this before and say it again I saw the video and its not a good look at all because as far as I know Its very against the Japanese culture of Saving Face. You cannot be so direct and openly insulting them and putting this kind of intimidation in Japanese culture, this is not the way to communicate with a traditionally Japanese company because in japan its all about respect.What is more scary in this video is that he is seemingly admitting legal faults here. This video greatly undermine the legal defence, it undermines his fair use defence.This kind of script is something a lawyer should never have agreed upon although I highly doubt this case will be going to court.

It sounds like Mark knows he made a mistake because about that concerts thing it was not TOEI it was toei related music company that told him to promote the concerts, I know its nit picky but as far as I know that's not how a legal case should operate, He then also proceed to say upon hearing this many youtubers more specifically countless youtubers and millions of supporters joing him to not support any toei related products( including the upcoming DB film), which hurts his fair use defence if this case goes into court.

He asks them to basically drop their copyright outside of Japan this would mean anyone can use their IP not just him or they would have to pay millions in legal fees to write a system just for him or youtube or something which they will never do. Its a demand they would never be able to fulfill, its a really bad look from a legal standpoint.

[Yuji]

Yeah the whole Japanese portion of the video was really bizarre. It comes across as more of a threat than an apology and it's too desperate to follow traditional Japanese decorum.

[Adamant]

Haven't seen that video or this letter he apparently sent since he took the video down, but I did find this comment on it explaining what was wrong with it:



Can't say I really have any sympathy for him if he really DID write this garbage.

[coola]

Haven't seen that video or this letter he apparently sent since he took the video down, but I did find this comment on it explaining what was wrong with it:



Can't say I really have any sympathy for him if he really DID write this garbage.

Yeesh, i understand he is desperate since his source of income is in danger, but blind shots at innocent people and such whining won't help.

[Mr_CINDER]

Haven't seen that video or this letter he apparently sent since he took the video down, but I did find this comment on it explaining what was wrong with it:



Can't say I really have any sympathy for him if he really DID write this garbage.

I will say One thing about this letter its not just ODA, Toriyama and every authors worshipped like a god in the industry as I said in japan its all about respect.

[PurestEvil]

Damn. It is evident that Mark had gone a bridge too far with his response...no wonder why he ended up conceding in the end.

[Zephyr]

Because videos from "Totally Not Mark" are not insightful enough that they should be garnering an audience big enough to sustain a living.

I've never watched this guy's videos, but I know there are YouTube channels whose content is often just saying stuff and bringing up information that I can and have already read about on this very website. Suffice to say, I'll agree with the sentiment that shit's not very insightful.

That said, I'm not sure who one man is to decide what is and isn't "good enough" for someone to make a living off of. Who cares if they're profiting off of 'suckers'? That's what's in demand, apparently, as indicated by consumers putting their money towards it; that's the Free Market™ doing its thing.

Whether it's legally messy is another matter, but the fact remains that what people put their money towards is all too often hardly what one might consider "rational".

[ABED]

the fact remains that what people put their money towards is all too often hardly what one might consider "rational".

Honest question, what do you think I'm doing? Because when you say what people put their money towards is hardly often irrational, that's what I'm doing. I'm in no way deciding anything. I'm being critical, that's it.