SONY: Are they in the right?

[YRBB]

As many of you may be aware, B&B, Y&R and other soaps' episodes were uploaded on YouTube and other sites daily for months. This was heaven-sent for me and many viewers, whose CBS Player freezes literally every two seconds and have no means to record their shows. However, SONY seems to have realized this recently and they have been essentially looking in every corner of the internet and looking for episodes and claiming copyright infringement.

Of course, these are their shows, but should they really take everything down? Nobody really makes any money out of this, plus they don't have any secret plans to release Y&R and B&B episodes on DVD, do they? So are they right by taking them down?

[detroitpiston]

No they aren't. Although the CBS, MSN episodes are in higher quality I loved watching the shows on YouTube without commercials. Plus it was interesting reading the comments and seeing what everyone thought about the episode. I just hope ABC doesn't start removing GH episodes. Sometimes I just don't feel like waiting until I get home to watch the show.

[YRBB]

Yes, the lack of commercials and the fact that you get to comment with other people was great.

[Steveo4]

The selfish part of me wants to say they're in the wrong. But the realistic, business-like part of me has to admit that they have every right to take these videos off and claim copyright infringement. If we say they're in the wrong, then what's the point of even having the copyright laws for shows like this? Sure, it's definitely interesting to see everyone's thoughts and it helps people keep up with a show. But legally, and creatively, Youtube--or any other website like it--doesnt really have the right to just broadcast all these episodes without permission. From Sony's standpoint, if people cant catch an episode online, some of those people may then choose to tune in on television...thus, in theory, making the compnay more money if ratings were to rise. Right? At least I would think so. So I'd say Sony is in the right to do this.

ETA: Also, it may be true that no one is making money out of the episodes being on the internet. But from Sony's perspective, they are potentially losing money because less ppl may be tuning in on TV...making ratings lower...and lowering ad rates....etc. I also think, though, that if companies are going to go on hunts like this, then they need to somehow make their shows more available in mediums other thatn television. And they need to do it right....with good quality, but in my opinion they do have the right to be making money off of it.

[Ryan]

Sony should sign a licensing agreement with Youtube so they air their episodes on a more stable server (such as Youtube) in exchange for embedding an ad in the beginning, middle and end of the clip.

[Drew]

of course they're right. While they know people arent selling these or making money off them ... they're not making money off them, and thats where the problem comes in. You're not getting the ads from the episodes or from the site embeds.

I just hope they dont take down the vintage clips that they're not planning on using ever again.

[Drew]

they do have a youtube channel. they should make better use of it.

[JackPeyton]

they are in the right.

i dont like it, but its true.

[Cheap21]

they've already taken down some few for B&B

[sheilaforever]

B&B was up with YEARS of entire episodes until recently. It was all taken down.

And as copyright hodlers producers have a right for it. (Unfortunately) Yet, when it comes to snippets of episodes I don't think they should exercise it, not just from a fan viewpoint, but also because it is free promotion for the respective series...