New fan made Doctor Who intro - BANNED BY THE BBC!!

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 126
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Some of you may have seen the progress of, and end result of my Doctor Who title sequence finished a few days ago, which took just over 40 days to complete, polish of and release on youtube.

Well, 4 days on, today, the BBC filed a copyright claim over my visual material created from scratch, and as such the video was pulled a few hours ago.

I've re-uploaded it for the time being, pending hearing back from the Youtube DMCA notice which takes around 10 days, and unless the BBC formally decide to sue me, the original video will be reinstated.

Here is the link to the temp upload, you might see that some fans are already venting on there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCF6LrE4OQo

Here is the i-petition that's been set up if any one feels inclined to make a comment:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/we-protest-at-the-bbc-claiming-ownership-of


Do the BBC Own copyright to Doctor Who? Of course they do. Do they own the copyright to the theme music I modified? Yes, they do.

Was making the choice to claim ownership of a fan's derivative work designed to spark debate in the community as to the quality of the current Peter Anderson Studios intro sequence the right one?

Legally, probably. Morally? Well, you decide.

40 days of work went into the sequence, with regular updates posted to my youtube fanbase, and when the finished result went up 3-4 days ago the viewcount shot up 25,000 in just a couple of days.

Is this really the best way to be nurturing emerging "talent", by destroying labors of love created for the enjoyment of others? Why me? Why not the 1000's of other youtube up-loaders who DO post the original title sequence, whole bloody episodes in some cases?!

Yet after just 3 days of being live, an attempt has been made to destroy my work, which in itself is actually just serving to give more publicity.

Your thoughts?
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Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 126
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    .. here is a very handy website reference which gives detailed guides from both standpoints, with particular relivance to YouTube DMCA (copyright) notifications:

    http://fairusetube.org/guide-to-youtube-removals
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,152
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    That's awful! You're not profiting in any way from it, and most of it, aside from the soundtrack (which is even modified), has been created by you. It's something for fans, made by a fan, which clearly took a lot of time and effort. It's a ridiculous move on the BBC's part.

    To be honest, I think they're just envious, this is better than the current one.
  • HappyTruckerHappyTrucker Posts: 534
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    xandercom wrote: »
    Why me? Why not the 1000's of other youtube up-loaders who DO post the original title sequence, whole bloody episodes in some cases?!

    Your thoughts?

    Like has been said, they're probably pissed that someone 'amateur' can produce something that looks more professional (and has a better theme mix) than the one they use on the programme.

    If they were pulling down everything then fair enough but to single out one person seems odd. Either they want to protect their copyright or they don't. They can't have it both ways.

    I'd definitely be watching any new official sequence carefully to see if any of your ideas are...erm...incorporated.
  • M@nterikM@nterik Posts: 6,982
    Forum Member
    xandercom wrote: »
    Some of you may have seen the progress of, and end result of my Doctor Who title sequence finished a few days ago, which took just over 40 days to complete, polish of and release on youtube.

    Well, 4 days on, today, the BBC filed a copyright claim over my visual material created from scratch, and as such the video was pulled a few hours ago.

    I've re-uploaded it for the time being, pending hearing back from the Youtube DMCA notice which takes around 10 days, and unless the BBC formally decide to sue me, the original video will be reinstated.

    Here is the link to the temp upload, you might see that some fans are already venting on there:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCF6LrE4OQo

    Here is the i-petition that's been set up if any one feels inclined to make a comment:

    http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/we-protest-at-the-bbc-claiming-ownership-of


    Do the BBC Own copyright to Doctor Who? Of course they do. Do they own the copyright to the theme music I modified? Yes, they do.

    Was making the choice to claim ownership of a fan's derivative work designed to spark debate in the community as to the quality of the current Peter Anderson Studios intro sequence the right one?

    Legally, probably. Morally? Well, you decide.

    40 days of work went into the sequence, with regular updates posted to my youtube fanbase, and when the finished result went up 3-4 days ago the viewcount shot up 25,000 in just a couple of days.

    Is this really the best way to be nurturing emerging "talent", by destroying labors of love created for the enjoyment of others? Why me? Why not the 1000's of other youtube up-loaders who DO post the original title sequence, whole bloody episodes in some cases?!

    Yet after just 3 days of being live, an attempt has been made to destroy my work, which in itself is actually just serving to give more publicity.

    Your thoughts?

    Bloody hell, that really is rather good.

    A well deserved pat on the back for that.
  • Dr TheteDr Thete Posts: 573
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    xandercom wrote: »
    Do they own the copyright to the theme music I modified? Yes, they do.

    Sort of. They either own the arrangement (which you've taken distinctive elements of for your work) as a work for hire, or Murray Gold owns it.

    The actual theme itself is owned by Warner/Chappell. Who will expect the BBC to challenge its unauthorised use.
    Was making the choice to claim ownership of a fan's derivative work designed to spark debate in the community as to the quality of the current Peter Anderson Studios intro sequence the right one?

    Legally, probably. Morally? Well, you decide.

    The BBC own the rights to the police box image, and the logo, and some apparent recycled elements in the visuals, and the excerpt you use at the end. They have every right, legal and moral, to exercise their rights. A legal responsibility too. Even if it seems unfair that they picked yours to challenge but not some others.

    ETA: I don't want to seem unsympathetic. You put a lot of work into it, and it's rather good. I just don't think the BBC are being baddies here.
  • DJGMDJGM Posts: 3,934
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    If the BBC insist on having your unofficial sequence taken down from YouTube, they might as well do the same to all of
    the other unofficial Doctor Who opening title sequences and/or tribute videos, and have them all taken down as well.

    One other option might be to upload your title sequence video to another video sharing site, and to hell with YouTube!
    Dailymotion, Vimeo and Veoh are three alternatives that spring to mind here, among several others.
  • nebogipfelnebogipfel Posts: 8,375
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    I agree with Dr Thete about the legalities etc. But it is a superb sequence. Well done. I can only sympathise. I notice Babelcolour ended up having very good negotiations with the BBC where they conceded on some of his videos. But not all.
  • human naturehuman nature Posts: 13,180
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    xandercom - your situation probably wasn't helped by the fact that your fans were bombarding the BBC with emails drawing their attention to your work. The BBC may well have preferred to turn a blind eye to it, but they could hardly do so when so many people were sending them the link and asking them to view it!
  • MobesMobes Posts: 58
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    BBC are just p1ssed you've done a better intro than they have ever made :)
  • Banks246Banks246 Posts: 521
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    They shouldn't be banning you, they should be flippin hiring you.

    That was incredible what you did.

    Head up my friend, you should be proud of the fact you created something so amazing that is entered their radar! :)

    Keep up the brilliant work.. :)
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    I'm not so sure the visual sequence is better than the official one but damn that mix of the theme is a beauty! Well done.
    As far as legalities go I still sympathies with the BBC a bit. I don't think they're being spiteful though it might seem unfair. But whatever. Good work regardless.
  • YorkshireKatYorkshireKat Posts: 690
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    I'd take what the BBC have done as a compliment, they obviously know it's better...bit weird you're singled out and theres a squillion other fan made titles about. hopefully they won't sue and give you a job doing the Who titles instead! :D
  • MobesMobes Posts: 58
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    My major problem with the new Who music is that

    1) the don't use enough of the perpetual driving engine part, the duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh.. bit

    2) The "ooooo, wa-aaaaaa, waaaaaaaaaa oooooooo@ parts are far too orchestral, they need to be more enearthly like they were in the Peter Davidson music...

    Also LOVE that the Tardis flies upside down..
  • LeslieGruffordLeslieGrufford Posts: 352
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    It's probably a branch of the BBC that has nothing to do with Doctor Who. I doubt this is an act from Moffat or his people they would probably applaud it. But it comes with the territory. I once had Fox banning an interview I put on of William Shatner on Jonathan Ross because they claimed it contained their copyright which was a clip of Shatner in Boston Legal being promoted on the show. They overruled the claim. Good luck!
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    Also based on past experience of other similarly brilliant videos that use content fairly it is often other users and video makers who are jealous of someone's mad skills who mass report and thus the videos are just pulled with little or no thought.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 126
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    nebogipfel wrote: »
    I agree with Dr Thete about the legalities etc. But it is a superb sequence. Well done. I can only sympathise. I notice Babelcolour ended up having very good negotiations with the BBC where they conceded on some of his videos. But not all.

    Yeah I just heard that too and it sucks. His (i assume was a guy) work was always being featured on doctorwhotv website, and a couple of mine have too in the past. We don't do it for the the hell of it, it's like a DJ playing to an empty room if there's no one around to enjoy it.

    In an age of social media the BBC really ought to re-assess their priorities and be seen to endorse and encourage fan art as a benefit to the brand, not assume their brand is perfect and can't be improved upon by passionate individuals who don't get a penny for their hard work and contribution.

    There is a very, VERY clear difference between someone trying to flog fake doctor who t-shirts, or uploading episodes to torrent sites to fan derivatives. The BBC seem to want to be seen as encouraging new talent with one hand, and destroying it with the other.

    Still, no publicity is bad publicity as far as I care. My conscience is clear.
  • kingjeremykingjeremy Posts: 9,077
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    This idea that the BBC are sat over there removing this out of some sort of jealous spiteful rage is total nonsense.

    It'll be a bunch of people in suits who probably neither give much of a shit about Doctor Who and aren't connected to the Doctor Who staff in any sort of way.

    It's being removed because how ever good it may be, it also blatantly infringes their copyright.
  • andym08homeandym08home Posts: 592
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    This is highly unfair, your titles and theme tune are completely different to their own titles, they're probably just jealous they couldn't create something as good as you did
  • be more pacificbe more pacific Posts: 19,061
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    Jealous? Oh, FFS! Will people please grow up and stop making spurious comments about jealousy? It's incredibly insulting to suggest anyone associated with Doctor Who churlishly pursues copyright claims against talented fans.
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    Jealous? Oh, FFS! Will people please grow up and stop making spurious comments about jealousy? It's incredibly insulting to suggest anyone associated with Doctor Who churlishly pursues copyright claims against talented fans.

    Quite. While the idea of Moffat and friends sitting at home trawling Youtube and getting into a frothing rage at fan videos is mildly comical it just isn't the reality. As I said before it will more likely be down to people reporting the video and they will be fellow users. Then the suits will indiscriminately block the content as sadly often happens.

    There is or was a great Liverpool video about the CL final which used sky sports footage and sigur ros that was always being pulled but you can be sure it wasn't sigur ros or sky doing the banning.
  • human naturehuman nature Posts: 13,180
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    As I pointed out earlier, according to the messages left on YouTube, xandercom's fans went out of their way to bombard the BBC with emails, drawing their attention to the video. I'm sure it left the BBC's legal team with no choice but to act.
  • be more pacificbe more pacific Posts: 19,061
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    As I pointed out earlier, according to the messages left on YouTube, xandercom's fans went out of their way to bombard the BBC with emails, drawing their attention to the video. I'm sure if left the BBC's legal team with no choice but to act.
    Indeed. It seems xandercom went about things the wrong way:
    xandercom wrote: »
    Was making the choice to claim ownership of a fan's derivative work designed to spark debate in the community as to the quality of the current Peter Anderson Studios intro sequence the right one?

    Legally, probably. Morally? Well, you decide.
    That just seems a bit bratty. It's always better to let good work stand on its own merits than to attempt to "spark debate" over someone else's work.
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    Indeed. It is inarguably great work but you should focus on pushing the quality of your work in its own right rather than trying to call out the relative talents of those that made the existing titles. That's just unprofessional.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 126
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    As I pointed out earlier, according to the messages left on YouTube, xandercom's fans went out of their way to bombard the BBC with emails, drawing their attention to the video. I'm sure it left the BBC's legal team with no choice but to act.

    I can assure you they did not, so stop trolling such utter rubbish. I removed any such suggestions on the one or two occasions the email address "thedoctor@bbc.co.uk" was posted by anyone.
    Are you done trying to wind people up, or??
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 60
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    xandercom wrote: »
    Your thoughts?

    They have the right to say no to your use of their property - you making the sequence for your own entertainment or private show reel, your choice - but your publicly distributing via social media, infringement of not only their property but also their property rights.

    You basically have no rights in this issue. I'm sorry. Other than the fact you produced it. The work you produced was commendable, but at the end of the day it is making use of BBC owned owned property and trademarks which is straight forward copyright infringement.

    Sorry.
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