Post subject: I think there's someone plagiarizing TASvideos
zwataketa
He/Him
Joined: 9/1/2012
Posts: 309
First, my thoughts on the matter of plagiarism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-rqGPSWxKw Now that thats out of the way, I've seen this guy on youtube called VideoGameEndingsHQ. He uploads final boss battles and endings of games. But the thing is, he uses the TAS runs of the games. Here's a few examples of his videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gpKDvuIAzA (Mega Man ZX) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2Ae8Wj5VAA (Super Smash Bros.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ8gt2mQFnI (Mega Man 7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcaw5rEhocw (Star Fox) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVTmNXuctw (Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link) Why am I making such a big deal out of this? Well, he uses the videos from TASvideos, but he doesn't give credit. I looked over his videos, and even on his channel, and not once did I even SEE a mention of TASvideos. I think he's a plagiarist. That's why it's a big deal!
I quit TASing.
Active player (309)
Joined: 8/21/2012
Posts: 429
Location: France
Hum... If he doesn't give credit, there may be a problem...
Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4042
Why not PM him asking that he give credit? If he says yes and he does, then there's nothing more to discuss.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
zwataketa
He/Him
Joined: 9/1/2012
Posts: 309
ill do that and tell you the response
I quit TASing.
Editor, Skilled player (1437)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2106
It shouldn't be a big deal, really. Just write him to credit the author's of TASes, since their work is being put on display.
RachelB
She/Her
Player (129)
Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579
I tried PMing him months ago, and got no response.
zwataketa
He/Him
Joined: 9/1/2012
Posts: 309
i messaged him that and said if it was an honest mistake, all he has to do is give credit, but if he either knew he was stealing, or wont give credit, i would report him. I'm awaiting a response from him.
I quit TASing.
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2630)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6435
Location: The land down under.
*Laughs* High Quality, uploading 240p and 360p Also he hasn't updated any that you linked yet.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4042
Spikestuff wrote:
*Laughs* High Quality, uploading 240p and 360p Also he hasn't updated any that you linked yet.
144p for best quality
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Banned User
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
I'm not sure we have very strong legal grounds for requiring any kind of credits. Games, including their music and graphics, are the intellectual property of the companies that made them. We don't get copyright, or any kind of other right, for gameplay video or any other kind of derivative work. Thus we have no legal grounds to demand any kind of credits. (But IANAL. This is my limited understanding of copyright law.) At most we can ask for credits as a sign of good will. (What this means in practice is that this person is in the same situation as us with respect to potential copyright infringmenet / fair use. It may very well fall under fair use, but that's between this person and the IP owner.)
Warepire
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2178
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
I know SDA have been able to have videos taken down from YouTube that were mis-credited (i.e. uploader claimed to play himself when it obviously was a run taken from SDA with the StatIDs stripped).
Sanqui
Any
Player (26)
Joined: 4/25/2011
Posts: 33
Well, what license are TASes on this site licensed under? I would hope something like CC BY-SA. EDIT: As per http://tasvideos.org/SiteLicense.html, all content, including TASes, is CC BY. Therefore, the uploader should mention the author.
ovo
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2630)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6435
Location: The land down under.
Give the user 14hrs... if the user does not update the information, flag the videos. That is when the server is 12am. (UTC)
Patashu wrote:
144p for best quality
BEST QUALITY EVER!
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
RachelB
She/Her
Player (129)
Joined: 12/3/2011
Posts: 1579
Spikestuff wrote:
Give the user 14hrs... if the user does not update the information, flag the videos.
It's been months, he's not going to respond. He just uploaded a thousand videos and posted them on his site to collect ad revenue.
creaothceann
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 4/7/2005
Posts: 1874
Location: Germany
Warp wrote:
I'm not sure we have very strong legal grounds for requiring any kind of credits.
  1. At the very least the input sequence is solely the "intellectual property" of the TASer, similar to how a company develops advantageous gene sequences or an author writes a book.
  2. Then there's the act of creating the video. Official TASes don't have much creativity in them except the decision of where to place the logo and where to end the video, but some users (like Saturn, evilchen and myself) have created what could be called "TASMVs" (TAS music videos).
Of course this is the internet and data is widely available to anyone, so there's not much one could do except pleading for fairness and/or contacting the video hoster.
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2630)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6435
Location: The land down under.
RachelB wrote:
Spikestuff wrote:
Give the user 14hrs... if the user does not update the information, flag the videos.
It's been months, he's not going to respond. He just uploaded a thousand videos and posted them on his site to collect ad revenue.
As Mario would say: "Let's A-" wait I grew up with a PS1... "Stop Him!"
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Player (36)
Joined: 9/11/2004
Posts: 2630
I'm not a lawyer, and this is a legal morass, but I have researched copyright law a little. And here's my understanding: Copyright is held by the author of the run. If you're going to flag the run make sure you have proper standing. If you flag a video that you do not hold copyright to you may be liable for punitive action for knowingly filing a false claim. Moreover, gameplay videos are not generally protected by fair use, which means that in general TAS videos may be unlawful should the author of the game step in. While this doesn't really change the status of your claim against the video maker, it does bring extra scrutiny to bear on us.
Build a man a fire, warm him for a day, Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.
Banned User
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
To clarify: Yes, the author of the keypress input file has (AFAIK) copyright on said file, because it's a work fully created by said author (and which isn't even derivative work because the file contains zero content from the game.) However, the video capture of gameplay, even if it's being played by an emulator using said keypress file, is most probably not copyrighted to anybody else than the owners of the original game. The video can be considered derivative work. Fair use in most countries protects the rights of people to make reviews, commentaries, parodies and other similar things of copyrighted works. However, a gameplay video is probably somewhere in the fuzzy line between.
Player (80)
Joined: 8/5/2007
Posts: 865
Not that I'd be one to lead the crusade (I'm apathetic to the cause and who in their right mind would copy the ending to Carmen Sandiego?), but hasn't YouTube gotten extremely conservative about copyright infringement lately? Couldn't TASVideos users claim unfair use of their copyrighted material and spook YouTube into removing the videos and possibly even suspending or banning the user? By the time any copyright claims are challenged and overturned, the user should be reeling from several infractions.
zwataketa
He/Him
Joined: 9/1/2012
Posts: 309
I'm just saying, if I were to use someone else's things in my videos, I'd give credit, no matter how big or small a contribution it was.
I quit TASing.
Player (145)
Joined: 7/16/2009
Posts: 686
Warp wrote:
To clarify: Yes, the author of the keypress input file has (AFAIK) copyright on said file, because it's a work fully created by said author (and which isn't even derivative work because the file contains zero content from the game.) However, the video capture of gameplay, even if it's being played by an emulator using said keypress file, is most probably not copyrighted to anybody else than the owners of the original game. The video can be considered derivative work.
Perhaps, but if they really are copying the TASes, the video is also derived from the input file, on which the author holds full copyright. I'm not a lwayer either, but it seems that this would give TASVideos (\ the author) enough grounds to have the video removed.
Active player (309)
Joined: 8/21/2012
Posts: 429
Location: France
Personally, I wouldn't focus too much on the legal part (TASes are quite blurry on this part, at least for their "distribution" in video format)... But I'm all for the "give credit where credit is due", especially when you monetize something. I mean that I'm more concerned about the moral aspect.
Former player
Joined: 2/19/2007
Posts: 424
Location: UK
Let us not add any legitimacy to the youtube automatic takedown system by using it ourselves. At least he doesn't seem to be claiming to have made these TASes himself, so he probably isn't plagiarizing on purpose. He might just be lazy. Giving credit is the right thing to do, and it would be polite of him to do so. But by not doing so, he is just being rude - he isn't actually hurting any of us. So I don't think we need to work ourselves up into a froth about this.
Editor, Skilled player (1534)
Joined: 7/9/2010
Posts: 1319
I also once found a little troll on YouTube who's not giving credit to the actual authors. On his channel there're a few speedruns and TASes. He even points out, that he's the author of the videos. Althought he has less videos, this is something that shouldn't be done. I've already contacted him a month ago, but he's not going to change anything.
Favorite animal: STOCK Gt(ROSA)26Sortm1.1(rtTA,EGFP)Nagy Grm7Tg(SMN2)89Ahmb Smn1tm1Msd Tg(SMN2*delta7)4299Ahmb Tg(tetO-SMN2,-luc)#aAhmb/J YouTube Twitch
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2630)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6435
Location: The land down under.
TASeditor wrote:
I also once found a little troll on YouTube who's not giving credit to the actual authors. On his channel there're a few speedruns and TASes. He even points out, that he's the author of the videos. Althought he has less videos, this is something that shouldn't be done. I've already contacted him a month ago, but he's not going to change anything.
who?
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.