Ethan Klein of H3H3 is seriously not happy with KSI, Logan Paul and their respective agencies, after a video in which he reacted to the boxing match was hit with a copyright strike – blocking it worldwide.
The KSI vs Logan Paul fight was a pay-per-view live event on YouTube, the first of its kind, and the copyright holders were aggressively shutting down other streams and videos popping up on YouTuber (although not on Twitch).
However, ‘transformative’ content based on the fight (i.e reaction videos/compilations etc.) are usually safe from breaching the copyright rules on YouTube.
Klein himself is experienced in this area, after his H3H3 show won a lawsuit on the very issue, where they were upheld in their belief that their use of another YouTuber’s content was transformative, and therefore did not breach copyright.
But, due to a video on the H3H3 channel reacting to the boxing matches between both KSI and Logan, and Jake Paul vs Deji, the agency responsible were able to have the video blocked from being available worldwide, which was not to Klein’s liking:
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“I didn’t even show footage [of the event], because I knew they were going to be dicks about it. The only thing I showed was a compilation of Jake Paul getting punched in the face, which by the way has intrinsic artistic value. So for them to block it, worldwide? You stupid assholes.
And here’s the best part. I disputed and said ‘hey, idiots, release the claim.’ And they can keep it down for 30 days. YouTube gives them 30 days to just sit on that, and keep it down. Like, the video should go up, if I dispute it. It’s crazy.”
Klein also pointed out a hypocrisy in the situation, as KSI himself is known for making reaction videos, in a similar vein to H3H3’s own content.
“They’re wilfully abusing the systems that YouTube has put in place, and it’s just so lame. Especially KSI because he does reaction videos, he relies on other people’s content. The Paul brothers you can’t expect anything from them ever.[…]It’s just so frustrating, because I didn’t even show the footage. I literally, explicitly avoided showing the footage, because I wanted to avoid this. And now, 30 days and I can do nothing, it’s just so f’d up. So, fuck these guys.”
Klein has had more than his fair share of run ins with YouTube and it’s loophole prone policy around copyright issues, and perhaps given his following he will be able to have the strike removed before the 30 day period.
Neither YouTube nor KSI or Logan Paul’s representation have commented on the matter at the time of writing.