Creators fret over revenue loss due to copyright infringement

Samay Raina, who has 5.4 million subscribers on YouTube, went viral with his recent intellectual property ‘India’s got latent’ that garnered more than 150 million views. In fact, according to YouTube’s year-end report, globally, there have been over 1.5 billion views of videos related to Samay Raina in 2024.

To leverage the show’s popularity, Raina decided to upload some episodes and additional content related to the show behind a paywall, starting at ₹59 a month. However, some notorious users re-uploaded the content for free on YouTube and other platforms, much to Raina’s disappointment.

“I was trying to set up a revenue stream by uploading this content exclusively for members-only, so people re-uploading it is definitely a problem I face," Raina said at a virtual YouTube press conference on 5 December, in response to a Mint's question.

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“On YouTube, getting this content taken down is comparatively easier than other platforms using copyright strikes, as far as I am able to spot it. On other websites, it is quite difficult to get the content removed, and it leads to loss of revenue," Raina added.

The process to deal with such issues is that the copyright holders notify YouTube of a video that infringes on their copyright, and the platform removes the content promptly “in accordance with the law," and terminate the accounts of repeat offenders.

A copyright strike, a legal request from a copyright holders to remove content that violates their copyright, can be resolved if the user submits a counter-notification and prevails in that process, YouTube explained in an emailed reply to Mint’s queries.

“We work hard to balance the rights of copyright holders, with the creative pursuits of the YouTube community. It is not up to YouTube to decide who ‘owns the rights’ to content, which is why we give copyright holders’ tools to make copyright claims and uploaders tools to dispute claims that are made incorrectly," YouTube said in the mail.

Legal remedies

Though usually these copyright concerns are dealt with via the platform as mentioned, without going to court, legal experts stress that seeking legal remedy for copyright infringements is important.

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“For copyright infringement, both civil and criminal remedies are available under law. The most powerful remedy among these is seeking injunction which prevents the defendant from infringing copyright," said Tanu Banerjee, partner, Khaitan and Co.

“Owners can also seek damages as compensation on account of infringement. Criminal remedies are in the form of imprisonment of the accused, that is, the infringing person or fines, or both," Banerjee added.

To be sure, these legal remedies are not excercised as much by creators, as it is both time-consuming and requires financial investment, and creators want to focus on content rather than getting involved in legal procedures, a macro creator told Mint on the condition of anonymity.

“If we can simply make a copyright strike in 30 seconds at the comfort of our home, why would we go to court for this. Also, there is not just one but multiple such infringements on so many content pieces that we make, how many cases can we fight?" she asked.

The creator, who does not have membership, and only relies on ad revenue, also added that it is difficult to calculate the amount of revenue lost by copyright infringement, but she believes her content could have generated at least 30% more revenue for her channel, if it wasn’t re-uploaded by other users.

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In a contrarian view, and to look at brighter side of things, analysts believe that re-uploading of their content helps creators amplify their reach, as platforms promote content from smaller creators.

"While content creators invest significant effort into original work, re-uploads by nano or micro influencers can unexpectedly amplify their reach, making content viral and eventually increasing their follower base," said Amiya Swarup, partner, marketing advisory, Ernst & Young LLP.

“Platforms actively utilize technology to flag potential infringements, striking a balance between protecting creators and driving broader engagement," he added.