I don’t think it’s possible to own the rights to a public event especially when said event was funded with taxpayers money.

I thought the concert was open to the public and didn’t require tickets (or, presumably, other acceptance of an agreement/contract). If that was the case, how could private videos of a public event on public property fall under any sort of copyright infringement? Wouldn’t this be the same as taking video on the street or in a city park?

Ahem . . . here’s how it shakes out (I’m 100% certain):

First, it was a public event. Now, simply because an event is on public land or in a public park does not make it a public event, but in this case the event was fully open to the public.

Second, there were no T’s and C’s notices posted, nothing at all warning people not to record or photograph the event.

Third, the Inauguration Committee is not a government entity, and it is not taxpayer funded. It is a private committee, funded by private sponsors. It organized the event, it found sponsors for the event, it paid for a significant portion of the costs of securing the event, directing traffic, setting up porta-potties, and all those things, and it most definitely had the right to license exclusive rights to HBO to record and broadcast the event.

Fourth, however, HBO did not obtain a license to be the only cameras in that park. It merely obtained a license to have the exclusive right to set up its cameras where it chose, to have access to areas for its cameras and microphones that the public did not have access to, to park its production trucks and set up its production equipment where it wanted, and to then edit all the footage and broadcast it on its network for a six month period.

Fifth, a licensee always has the right to take action to enforce intellectual property rights that it has licensed.

But sixth — and most important here — HBO does not have any right whatsoever to be issuing takedown notices with respect to recordings other people made at that event and posted to Youtube or anywhere else. It did not license those rights, and the Inaugural Committee did not purport to transfer or license those rights to HBO. It was a freakin’ open, public event with loads of people all over the place holding up cameras and camcorders and camera phones. Not a single event security person, nor any HBO representative, nor a single representative or agent of the Committee ever went over to a single one of those people and asked them to put their device away, because there were no restrictions.

That’s the bottom line here. Had the Committee instead rented the park space from whichever government entity controls that, and enclosed it, sold tickets, posted signs, and warned people not to record it — just as they do at concerts all over the U.S. every single day — then HBO might have some sort of argument (depending on the terms of the license agreement). But under the circumstances, it is really straying way beyond what any reasonable person in the business of content creation and broadcast could possibly believe in good faith to be enforcement of its rights.

I just hope that one of the people whose recordings was forced down by this is some litigious sob, maybe even a lawyer herself, and refuses to go down quietly. This entire inauguration was an incredibly historic event, and Obama and his people made clear from day one that all the principal official events leading up to and surrounding it were to be free and open to all. What HBO is doing here is truly appalling.

I have a little video content of this event if anyone has the time and/or desire to go after HBO. I personally don’t have the time or legal expertise. Post something if interested…

Okay, sorry for dragging up an old meme but it really seemed to fit the situation. HBO is basically saying that THEY own the copyright over all the videos filmed by everyone else there. After all, that is what the DMCA requires they affirm in their notice.

It makes me sad that I don’t own one of the videos in question (and be able to participate in the blood-bath of lawsuits) and it makes me sad the I didn’t become a lawyer so I could profit from the blood-bath of lawsuits that need to be initiated.

If we are going to suffer through this miserable economy my only prayer is that Pepsi, Target, Staples, Invesco, and whoever else has contributed to the commercialism of sports and public venues go out of business and thereby render those commercial brandings useless.

HBO, get a clue.

Even more stunning to me is that of all the cable content providers, HBO is the one who truly has no excuse to know better, because it’s been doing this for so long. For those who are too young, or don’t remember, HBO got its start not for producing high quality original content, or even being the first to broadcast movies after their first-run in theaters, but for live events like boxing and concerts, which it broadcast as “closed-circuit” and then later “pay-per-view” events. So it knows the ropes in terms of what its rights are, and how to protect those rights when it is actually recording/broadcasting the live event.

In fact, when HBO first started in the business, it wasn’t even scrambling its satellite signals. It wasn’t until it learned that bars, private clubs, union halls, etc. around the country were putting in TVRO satellite earth stations so their patrons or members could come and watch (and homes around the US were doing it as well instead of subscribing to what were then very primitive cable systems), that it began to scramble its signals. And those early efforts were laughably easy to break, because all they did was mess around with the interlacing. It took them a few more years to begin to truly encrypt their signals in a somewhat more secure manner.

It wasn’t until after all of this (HBO, ESPN and a couple others were the first to scramble), that they hired lobbyists and got Congress to make the decoding of those signals a felony offense, that these pay networks and the cable systems really began to take off as long-term profitable businesses.

And as everyone knows, it took the cable companies a lot longer to figure out that the physical “filters” they put on peoples’ lines if they didn’t subscribe to certain services required nothing more than a drill, a piece of wire and a soldering iron to bypass in a way that the companies’ techs wouldn’t detect with visual walk through audits of neighborhoods. So how did the cable systems protect their interests? Precisely how the RIAA is doing it now, albeit on a much smaller scale. By going after individuals in court and publicizing those cases. The only difference was that those laws were criminal laws, and local authorities were more than happy to prosecute people since their municipalities were getting so much money for granting the monopolies.

If I were there and had my own video of the PUBLIC event, I would SUE HBO for even asking for me to take the video down. Its America’s President swearing his oath to us. Not Swearing oath so HBO can make money. Oh wait I think ShowTime is going to buy the rights to the next one. So News sites, and stations cant even broad cast a single second of the event. That way ShowTime corners the market! Its not about Money people, Its about the freedom to be an American, without UNCLE SAM or HBO telling us we cant. This is exactly why we voted Obama into office, to put an end to the big brother BULLYING… GROW UP HBO, and realize You are not the keepers of the internet WE ARE, and we are your employers. YES we bring you your paychecks. And if you cross the lines we draw, we have the power to say here today gone tomarrow.

With a new day of Independence,
Returns The Power to the People!
Thomas’73

This kind of parasitical behavior is unacceptable. This was a historic moment for all American people. While I’m sure there are some hazy legal aspects to all this, it is regardless quite stupid of HBO. I will make sure to cancel my HBO this evening when I get home.

First of all, the event was a public event. Come on it was the presidential inauguration. HBO cannot claim the rights to a public event, especially one of this magnitude. To be honest Obama was elected by the people and many of them contributed to his campaign which got him where he is. So in essence the people own the rights to the inauguration footage not HBO. This is bigger than what people think. HBO and copyright ownership of a public event should be an example of what’s to come in the future of copyright wars between the public and corporate entities.

DC was in a state of emergency during the inauguration. So shouldn’t that bring all “events” in DC under federal umbrella voiding any copyright claims.

Bad enough they scam the “declaration” of an emergency, then they grant the rights to events that were used as a justification for the “emergency” is just malicious.

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