Gone Forever Are Those YouTube Hitler Videos

**Mogura** · 04-25-2010, 06:31 PM

One of the longer-lasting Internet memes in recent years has been the parody trend of the 2004 German film Der Untergang (also known as "Downfall").

If you have spent more than a couple of hours on the internet over the past couple of years, you have likely seen at least one or two of these clips, and if you are an aficionado, you know that there are plenty of them.

That's why it was surprising when many of these parodies recently disappeared from YouTube thanks to "Downfall" producer Constantin Film. Taking advantage of YouTube's Content ID system, Constantin has decided enough is enough, and copyright advocates are calling foul.

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Aw, some of those were quite funny...

**TheLastMohican** · 04-25-2010, 06:48 PM

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**machx** · 04-26-2010, 07:29 PM

LOL rats, should have saved them

**Megalomania** · 04-26-2010, 09:43 PM

Good. I never found them very funny anyway. It got way out of hand. People would send me a version of it they just found as if it was the funniest most original thing ever being ignorant of the fact that there are hundreds of versions of it.

**True Rune** · 04-26-2010, 11:12 PM

Aw man, those were always funny. A lot of memes are like that, but you take the good with the bad. It's a shame, but the internet will find a new way to find "lulz".

**Samoan Corleone** · 04-27-2010, 04:04 AM

	Originally Posted by Megalomania To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Good. I never found them very funny anyway. It got way out of hand. People would send me a version of it they just found as if it was the funniest most original thing ever being ignorant of the fact that there are hundreds of versions of it.

I didn't really find them that funny, either; someone could just take a scene from any non-English film and give it new subtitles, so I don't understand what made Downfall so special.

**LordCorbin** · 04-27-2010, 04:30 AM

I always enjoyed them. This seems like a ridiculous decision on the part of the producers though. Id be willing to bet those goofy videos inspired sufficient curiousity in people, who would otherwise have never heard of it, to go out and rent or buy this flick. How many movies get this kind of advertising? Oh well, I guess they prefer their movie remain in the bowels of obscurity.

**Koshkot** · 04-27-2010, 01:40 PM

	Originally Posted by TheLastMohican To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
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"But tomorrow, they'll forget all about it and watch cat videos."
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**Deliberator** · 04-27-2010, 01:47 PM

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article explains that YouTube wasn't legally required to take down the videos, but I don't think most people realize that there is a tiny exemption made for parodies within copyright law.

"The 4.3 million-view original, in which Hitler gets banned from Xbox Live, has been replaced by the notice: "This video contains content from Constantin Film, who has blocked it on copyright grounds." A quick search of YouTube shows that many others have vanished.

The legal merits of Constantin's argument are clear: They do not exist. Downfall parodies take less than four minutes of a 156-minute film, and use them in a way that is unquestionably transformative. Maybe Moturk49 was somehow making a ton of money from his or her Xbox-related parody, but it seems unlikely. In any event, the Supreme Court's 1994 decision in the "Hairy Woman" lawsuit established that the commercial nature of a parody does not render it presumptively unfair, and that a sufficient parodic purpose offers protection against the charge of copying."

04-25-2010, 06:48 PM	#2
TheLastMohican Core Member [187%] MBTI: ENTJ Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 7,498	To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
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04-26-2010, 07:29 PM	#3
machx Member [04%] MBTI: INTJ Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 197	LOL rats, should have saved them
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04-26-2010, 09:43 PM	#4
Megalomania Veteran Member [80%] MBTI: INTJ Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 3,212	Good. I never found them very funny anyway. It got way out of hand. People would send me a version of it they just found as if it was the funniest most original thing ever being ignorant of the fact that there are hundreds of versions of it.
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04-26-2010, 11:12 PM	#5
True Rune Core Member [200%] MBTI: INTJ Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 8,006	Aw man, those were always funny. A lot of memes are like that, but you take the good with the bad. It's a shame, but the internet will find a new way to find "lulz".
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04-27-2010, 04:30 AM	#7
LordCorbin Member [11%] MBTI: ISTP Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 473	I always enjoyed them. This seems like a ridiculous decision on the part of the producers though. Id be willing to bet those goofy videos inspired sufficient curiousity in people, who would otherwise have never heard of it, to go out and rent or buy this flick. How many movies get this kind of advertising? Oh well, I guess they prefer their movie remain in the bowels of obscurity.
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04-27-2010, 01:47 PM	#9
Deliberator Core Member [122%] MBTI: INTJ Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 4,884	To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. article explains that YouTube wasn't legally required to take down the videos, but I don't think most people realize that there is a tiny exemption made for parodies within copyright law. "The 4.3 million-view original, in which Hitler gets banned from Xbox Live, has been replaced by the notice: "This video contains content from Constantin Film, who has blocked it on copyright grounds." A quick search of YouTube shows that many others have vanished. The legal merits of Constantin's argument are clear: They do not exist. Downfall parodies take less than four minutes of a 156-minute film, and use them in a way that is unquestionably transformative. Maybe Moturk49 was somehow making a ton of money from his or her Xbox-related parody, but it seems unlikely. In any event, the Supreme Court's 1994 decision in the "Hairy Woman" lawsuit established that the commercial nature of a parody does not render it presumptively unfair, and that a sufficient parodic purpose offers protection against the charge of copying."
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