Two editors of poker news websites accused Pokertube of using content without permission last week. It started when Lance Bradley, Editor in Chief at Bluff.com, tweeted this after discovering a video belonging to his company at Pokertube.com:
Blows my mind that @Pokertube thinks it’s okay to steal content from other poker media outlets incl @bluffmagazine @wsop @poker_prod @espn
— Lance Bradley (@Lance_Bradley) June 16, 2014
Pokertube removed the video in question after it received this tweet notification.
Brett Collson, managing editor at Pokernews.com, tweeted this on Friday:
The “unrivalled” @WSOP coverage that @Pokertube promised this summer looks awfully similar to ours. Weird. pic.twitter.com/XXqKl470A8
— Brett Collson (@brettcollson) June 21, 2014
The image from the above tweet is in reference to live reporting of the WSOP Event #40, the $10,000 Heads Up Championship. PokerNews published live chip counts that were collected from tables by their staff located in the Rio Convention Center. These exact chip counts appeared on Pokertube.
We verified that the content shown in the embedded image was on Pokertube at the time of the tweet. It was removed within a few hours.
The “unrivalled” quotation is in reference to a press release from Pokertube and its parent company 180Vita, titled, “PokerTube Vegas to Provide Unrivalled World Series of Poker Coverage”.
Pokertube often compares itself to YouTube. While the services are similar, YouTube takes a conservative approach as to what it allows users to upload. A YouTube service known as Content ID scans uploads to make sure that a previous copyright claim has not been filed against the material. It also allows copyright holders to decide what should happen when a copyrighted video is uploaded, including monetizing it, muting it, or removing the video altogether from the YouTube system. Content ID is designed to catch copyrighted material before it ever makes it live.
Pokertube does not utilize a service similar to Content ID. Copyright holders are instructed to contact the site any time there is an infringement. A common belief within the poker content creation community is that Pokertube needs to be more proactive in removing copyrighted material.
Pokertube representative Stewart Dunlop addressed this concern in a statement to 4Flush, “We do not have any ‘Content ID’ process, but obviously recognise when content is not original Pokertube.” Dunlop continued, “If content is being uploaded that clearly belongs to a party such as Bluff media, it will not be published”.
Dunlop, on behalf of Pokertube, released a full statement to 4Flush. We have published it below in its entirety:
Pokertube and a number of other ‘tube’ websites host content that is not always original. We believe almost all users appreciate that this content does not belong to the specific ‘tube’ website and recognize the third party that produced it.
We receive very few takedown requests and have never been contacted by Bluff Magazine regarding their content. In fact, around 6 months ago, we actively reached out to Bluff to check that they were happy with their content being uploaded and never received a reply.
We do feel somewhat blind sided by Bluff as (like other outlets) we assumed they were happy to have their content on Pokertube as it contained their intro, watermark and was cited as belonging to Bluff in the description. A simple email (or reply to our initial contact) would have sufficed.
We always comply with takedown requests within 24 hours and encourage any copyright owner who believes their copyright is being infringed upon to contact us with the URLs of the violating content. You can get in touch at Hello@Pokertube.com
A number of media outlets understand that Pokertube is good for the poker world and introduces many new players to the game. These outlets have given Pokertube explicit permission to publish their content even although it does not belong to Pokertube.
Finally, the chip counts were not taken from PokerNews, but from a combination of Twitter and the WSOP website. This was a misunderstanding and we have apologized directly to PokerNews for this misdemeanor. Our feeds have been cleaned of all chip counts and moving forward all data will come from Twitter, livestream and other sources.
We will be taking steps moving forward to actively reach out to content producers, to ensure they are aware and happy their content is on Pokertube. Parties that agree will enjoy only their brand’s banner displayed next to their video, text linking to their site and other brand awareness.
The following was a direct response to a question about its DMCA process and whether Pokertube uses a service similar to YouTube’s Content ID:
Regarding the DMCA process, the copyright owner just needs to email Hello@Pokertube.com and it will be removed. Read more on Pokertube DMCA page.
We do not have any ‘Content ID’ process, but obviously recognise when content is not original Pokertube. If content is being uploaded that clearly belongs to a party such as Bluff media, it will not be published.
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