Michelle Phan Sued For Copyright Infringement

Obviously, on a site such as this one, we republish lots of photos, which occasionally leads to the odd Copyright claim. Luckily, most people/companies are reasonable about this, and recognise the promotional value of our site (with one very big and famous exception). Our case is relatively straightforward though, as it is basically an internet version of a newspaper/magazine (which have fair use rights), and we promote our sources directly. But what about other new media, such as YouTube?

Super cute and highly successful video blogger Michelle Phan (featured here on our old site) has always made a point of supporting and promoting the music she uses in her videos, so she assumed she’d be safe. But apparently not—she’s being sued by Ultra Records, for the outrageous sum of $150,000 per infringement! This is in spite of the fact that at least one of the artists in question (Kaskade) are hugely supportive of Michelle, and greatly appreciate the free publicity she’s given them.

I should make it clear that I personally very strongly support the right of artists to be paid for their work. However, the sort of thing Michelle is doing is clearly a huge net benefit for the artists whose work she uses, as they themselves recognise. I therefore find this lawsuit absolutely outrageous and stupid. What do you think?

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  1. Quyen’s avatar

    She’s Definitely Beautiful. I admire her hard work and success. She brings an inspiration for the Vietnamese Community. I’m kinda eh about her typical Californian valley girl act….Do you guys find that a turn off?

    I never knew about Kaskade until I found her videos years ago. Now I LOVE Kaskade. Yes, I agree with you. Those people have nothing better to do than to sue other people for more money. That’s one of the baggage for being successful.

  2. Avatar of Guest Poster

    Quyen,

    No, I’m not into the valley girl thing either.

  3. Avatar of arf

    Like totally…like gag me with a spoon. As if….

  4. Avatar of arf

    She is gorgeous by the way…and not really that valley girl sounding to me after watching the video.

  5. Tbone’s avatar

    She’s pretty, but never understood the appeal of all those make-up tutorial videos.

    Most of them seem like ways to stroke one’s ego and constantly receive compliments on how hot and pretty you are.

    Whatever makes money I guess.

  6. Avatar of The-Dean

    Michelle Phan is cute as a button!

    Doc I think the draconian enforcement of copyright come from two (at least) different causes. First some believe you must maintain strict enforcement because it make enforcing the claims that really hurt you much harder. I’m not sure if this is actually true, but I’ve worked with a few lawyers who maintain this stance. These were lawyers who advised us against doing anything new or interesting, as they always had a bunch of legal concerns. IMO lawyers are there to advise, not make the decisions. But some CEOs do whatever their lawyers tell them to.

    The second is, in my experience, record company execs are some of the dumbest, and most arrogant, humans I have ever worked with. I was at an end of the year meeting with an unnamed major record company’s marketing dept to make a presentation about 10-15 year ago. The head of that dept spent nearly an hour making excuses, in front of his people, for the year’s low sales. Blaming the Internet and music sharing (legitimate concerns to be sure). But not once did he demand they adapt, and learn to use the new medium to their advantage. Not one new idea was discussed. Pitiful.

  7. Avatar of Luke

    The copyright thing is ridiculous, it seems to me so much stuff is ‘ripped off’ that when there is a chance to pin a copyright suit on someone the level of retribution they seek is ridiculous. Like the Dean says if they wasted half their effort in working with the challenges new technology presents they would be happier and most likely earn more.

    I understand Dr Lee’s stance on avoiding hassle and not using pics from certain publications, but when the pictures are available all over the internet it really makes me wonder what they are hoping to achieve, especially when we usually provide links to their paysites along with the promotion of their girls.

    As far as Michelle goes I think she is gorgeous, I would watch her talking about any old crap. Amazing to think that old article is 7 years old.

  8. John Smith’s avatar

    How about she does a promo for Ultra topless and they call it even.

  9. Avatar of Tony Yang

    Maybe because she only has 6.8 million subscribers and she’s generating revenue from all her videos that rely on a good music soundtrack. She’s reached internet celebrity status, so it couldn’t hurt to legally acquire music licenses to use in her videos. I can’t stand watching the videos so I’m just speculating.

  10. Avatar of Guest Poster

    Tony Yang wrote:
    She’s reached internet celebrity status, so it couldn’t hurt to legally acquire music licenses to use in her videos.

    That may be true now, but it would have been a long, hard road to where she is now. So at what point should she have started acquiring licences, especially as she presumably doesn’t have a team of intellectual property lawyers at her disposal?

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