IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT—D. Mass.: Dismissal denied in dispute over video recordings of city council meetings, (Jan 9, 2025)

By Kevin M. Finson

Claims for false copyright takedown notices related to excerpts of city council meetings posted on YouTube survived a motion to dismiss because it was plausibly alleged that the excerpts were fair use and that the publisher of the original videos sent takedown notices without consideration of the fair use exception.

A publisher of city council meeting recordings was not entitled to dismissal of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claims brought against it for sending false copyright takedown notices, the U.S. District Court in Boston has held. A news channel which had published excerpts from the recordings on its YouTube channel plausibly alleged fair use (Channel 781 News v. Waltham Community Access Corp., No. 1:24-cv-11927-PBS (D. Mass. Jan. 6, 2025)).

Channel 781 News (Channel 781) was the operator of a YouTube channel which posted videos of news about the city of Waltham, Massachusetts, including clips of meetings of the Waltham City Council. The clips had been excerpted by Channel 781 from recordings of the full meetings which were posted by Waltham Community Access Corporation (WCAC). WCAC sent numerous takedown notices to YouTube claiming copyright ownership of the video excerpts. In response, YouTube temporarily removed the videos and disabled Channel 781’s YouTube channel. Channel 781 brought suit against WCAC for knowingly filing false takedown notices. WCAC moved to dismiss.

Fair use. WCAC argued that Channel 781 had not plausibly pled that its excerpted videos were fair use, so WCAC’s takedown notices could not have been a misrepresentation. The court disagreed, finding that the works were factual records with little creative expression, that they were “news reporting” which is typically fair use, and that neither party was engaged in commercial use of the videos. The court held that Channel 781 had at least plausibly alleged fair use.

Knowing misrepresentation. WCAC also argued that Channel 781 failed to plausibly allege that WCAC acted with knowledge that the takedown notices were false, and maintained that it acted under a good faith belief that the notices were proper. The court found that communications between the parties in which WCAC dismissed the very notion of a fair use exception and which represented that any use required permission sufficed to show knowing misrepresentation by WCAC, at least for the pleading stage.

The court denied the motion to dismiss.

The Case is No. 1:24-cv-11927-PBS.

Judge: Saris, P.

Attorneys: Marcus T. Strong (Brown Rudnick LLP) for Channel 781 News. Jeffrey Jackson Pyle (Prince Lobel Tye LLP) for Waltham Community Access Corp.

Companies: Channel 781 News; Waltham Community Access Corp.

Cases: Copyright TechnologyInternet MassachusettsNews