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Cordova, TN; January 20, in the year of our Lord 2020 -- Family Friendly Gaming, the industry leader in covering the family friendly video games is continuing to be open, honest, and transparent. As some of ya’ll know there was some nastiness surrounding our Youtube channel and Just Dance videos in particular. Our channel got hit with a copyright strike on December 18th, 2019. It came out of the blue from Ubisoft. Which is odd because we have worked with Ubisoft for close to fifteen years. There are other reasons for this being odd. This whole story gets stranger in January of 2020.
Back in 2013 we were given a license from someone in PR and Marketing at Ubisoft to record their games. On top of that under the Fair Use Copyright laws our videos are part of the teaching/education portion. How do I know that? We have thousands of comments on our channel these videos are being used in schools. We should have been fine based on those two factors alone. We counter notified and Ubisoft had ten days to prove they were suing Family Friendly Gaming here in Memphis.
17 U.S. Code § 107.Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
As the counter notification was getting ready to expire and our video would be reinstated we were hit with twelve more copyright strikes. This is where things got real. Youtube shuts down a channel when you have three copyright strikes. We reached out multiple times to resolve this. I finally dug up every single person we worked with Just Dance on in the past. Provided the license to Ubisoft and Youtube. Presented the law to both entities. The original copyright strike was revoked and then a fourteen one came. At that point I snapped. My patience was thin ice.
That same day all of our copyright strikes were revoked. Ubisoft asked us to please remove videos from the original Just Dance video game and we did. Along this journey I also learned some things. In December of 2019 I found out the video policy for Just Dance videos had changed at some point. The gameplay screen can only be 25% of the screen. Ubisoft wants more than just gameplay screens. They want content creators to create more. In January of 2020 I found out this had been applied back in August of 2019. We work with over two hundred companies, and did not have the time to check websites from every company we work with. I am very thankful Ubisoft was cognition of our limitations.
I am happy to announce we are working together with Ubisoft again. I prefer reporting on happy things. I love passing along good news. It warms my heart to share good things happening. I also apologize for anything bad I did in the entire process of this event. Filing with the BBB may have gone a bit too far. I did go to the BBB and request they resolve the complaint and that it was all good now. I always look for ways to work together and come to a solution both sides can accept. I hope and pray to continue that for years to come.
{UPDATE} We are also going to have to re-record and re-dance the Just Dance 2019 videos.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
God bless,
Paul Bury
Emperor
Family Friendly Gaming
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