OK, as an attorney, I have to step in here because there’s a ton of misinformation floating around in this thread right now.
First off, I just want to say Ethan Klein is a scumbag, and that part is indisputable. But a lot of you are making a lot of incorrect assumptions about what’s actually happening here, especially when it comes to the copyright case.
There are two separate issues at play, the copyright infringement situation, and the unmasking of Reddit mods.
Let’s start with the copyright issue. I honestly don’t think this is going to make it to a jury. The evidence here is so overwhelmingly in favor of the plaintiff that I fully expect the judge to grant a motion for summary judgment. That’s how strong the case is against these three individuals. He is just automatically going to rule in Ethan’s favor, and this is never going to make it to a jury. Copyright cases are always handled on a case by case basis, and while it’s true that the law can be a bit gray on it, this is by far the most open and shut copyright infringement case I’ve ever seen in all my years of practice.
Now, the reason copyright law can be so gray is because the outcomes can hinge on specific details. For example, in Ethan’s previous case against Matt Haas, Ethan didn’t use the entire video, and he made it transformative. He did take a pretty significant portion of it, but not the whole thing, and the judge specifically pointed that out. In fact, Ethan will likely be able to refer back to that case for precedent here.
When it comes to copyright, one thing you can do that will pretty much guarantee you lose your case is to play the entire copyrighted work. It doesn’t matter how much you talk over it or how transformative you think you’ve made it, if you use the entire work, it’s a violation.
Many react YouTubers get away with this because lawsuits are expensive, and sometimes there’s a sort of unwritten “gentleman’s agreement” where the copyright holder lets it slide for the free publicity. And also, there are DMCA laws, which is kind of a middleman to protect that. But the entire work was played. And that’s a problem.
Now, here’s where it gets even worse. These individuals specifically told their audience to watch their version of the video instead of Ethan’s, so that Ethan wouldn’t get any revenue. That’s malicious intent.
Not only will they likely lose the copyright case and face damages, but because of that malicious intent, the judge will likely award punitive damages and it could be as high as $150,000 per defendant. This is not a gray area, not up for debate. They played the whole video and deliberately encouraged people to watch their version instead. It’s blatant infringement.
Now, moving on to the second issue with the Reddit moderators. This is where things get a bit more complicated. Ethan is trying to unmask the mods because they allegedly conspired with streamers to manipulate views away from his video. While privacy isn’t guaranteed, anonymity is to some extent, and there’s legal precedent where judges weigh the line between free speech and something that could be considered criminal. And I will say for the most part, judges do tend to heavily pushback on that. They really don’t like unmasking. Those snark subreddits however definitely walk a fine line when it comes to harassment and things that aren’t protected by law. So, that part of the case will be interesting to watch unfold.
I people don’t like Ethan (I’m not his biggest fan either). But I need to clear up the misconceptions here, regardless of whether or not Ethan played some mind games with users to trap them, these three individuals absolutely broke copyright law. This isn’t a free speech issue. It wasn’t fair use. The bigger question is what’s going to happen with the Reddit situation.