Comments on: Sony’s Grouper Picks Fight With Searchles

By: Blinkx AdHoc Lets Publishers Monetize Your Embedded Videos Too

Blinkx AdHoc Lets Publishers Monetize Your Embedded Videos Too — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:01:54 +0000

[...] in trouble by materially altering the function of a site’s video player (i.e. Searchles pulling videos out of Grouper’s player). Blinkx doesn’t alter the underlying player, but layers on top [...]

By: SmartLogic Solutions Blog » Blog Archive » Searchles TV Gets Cease & Desist Letter (and good press too)!

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 21:12:12 +0000

[...] TechCrunch: Sony’s Grouper Picks Fight With Searchles [...]

By: Abogado Costa Rica lawyer

Abogado Costa Rica lawyer — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:49:20 +0000

Nice site! http://www.nccabogados.com/

By: Bobby Digital

Bobby Digital — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 02:23:08 +0000

This is quite an interesting turn of events here. I agree with the first comment. Why limit it to video?

By: Freshmaker

Freshmaker — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:48:21 +0000

Umm, Mr. dumbfounder, just because I am in QA and don’t trust executive ‘troubleshooting’ or ‘checking several times’ for a hill of beans- try clicking on the video that’s playing in the external player. Looks like that takes you right back to the page where that particular video is hosted on Grouper which gives you a link to report the video. 1 click to get to the link. Yours- 3 and through a pretty obscure UI at that.

So did you reach out to Grouper before stealing their content, or did you just take and hope they would call you? IT seems that working together could have started with you.

By: dumbfounder

dumbfounder — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:40:16 +0000

@Chris Neumann/others

The C&D letter claims that we are removing the ability to report infringing content. In fact, it is easier to report infringing content using the Searchles player than using Grouper’s own embedded player, which they actively promote. If you use their standard embed code there is no link back to the page in which it originated (that I can see, and I have checked it several times). In the Searchles player, it takes a few clicks, but it is entirely possible. If you click on the video while it is playing, it will link back to the Searchles TV Channel info page, which has links to the info pages for the individual videos within those channels. Those video info pages have links to the original provider. This type of linking seemed best to keep the Searchles user experience consistent, but we are open to enhancements to the player if the users would like to see something different.

We see Searchles TV as a great way to aggregate videos from multiple sites, and I think a lot of people agree. Rather than potentially stifling innovation, Grouper could gain a lot more out of this by working with us to find a way to make this equitable for both parties. We hope to have a conversation about that.

Chris Seline
aka
dumbfounder

By: Chris Neumann

Chris Neumann — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:05:47 +0000

Do you guys think it’s lame that this third party takes the content from Grouper, strips out all the stuff that’s valuable to Grouper, and then just uses their videos and their bandwidth for free? I’m all for linking and everything, but the idea is supposed to be that if you link to someone’s content, the end-user can click back to the site where the video originated from. That’s how it’s been working with everyone else, why won’t Searchles adhere to the “rules”? Also, what does Searchles have to say? It seems like everyone is focused on the lawyer’s letter, but who is doing the right and wrong thing here? Based on what I’m reading here, it seems like Searchles is in the wrong.

By: pureweb20.com

pureweb20.com — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:37:40 +0000

Sonys Grouper Picks Fight With Searchles…

Article is about a cease & desist letter received by Searcles for editing Grouper videos. Could mean potential issues for others doing the same….

By: basicity

basicity — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:32:06 +0000

Searchles. I don’t think it’s a very good name. How does one pronounce it? Is it like “circles” or more like “searchless”!!

By: StartUpCrunch

StartUpCrunch — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:30:46 +0000

# Marshall Kirkpatrick I think spashcast should start worrying with the likes of the 1 billion dollar legal cat fights which are threatening to rip the largest companies apart… Be worried, be very worried.

By: Mik

Mik — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:30:11 +0000

Bottom line- in rewrapping the content, they have essentially stolen it…Grouper has the law and common sense on it’s side.

By: Ilya Lichtenstein

Ilya Lichtenstein — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:19:43 +0000

Brad: I fail to see how this is much different from taking a Youtube or Grouper video and embedding it onto your own site, even if your site has ads.

By: MGS4

MGS4 — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:03:59 +0000

Nag – thanks, I had forgotten 1videoconference. I added them to the post. DimDim is also open source.
http://www.cddvdripper.com

By: dorisrhem

dorisrhem — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:27:37 +0000

Nice suggestion

By: Chhavi

Chhavi — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:21:56 +0000

good

By: lemon obrien

lemon obrien — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 04:53:54 +0000

they violating copyright. can’t be changing shit without no rights.

By: Brad Webb

Brad Webb — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 04:08:50 +0000

Ilya@#25 — They may not own the copyrights on videos, but they certainly own the bandwidth that streams/distributes them, as well as having a license to distribute as they see fit (pretty much) — that’s more the issue for me. A 3rd party, unaffiliated parasitic app has no “right” to suck bandwidth and data out, whether folks stop them or not, the ability for another company to step in and say *no* is very real. Why they didn’t mention the usage of resources (which, clearly, have a very real cost) is somewhat beyond me, actually.

By: ciscokid

ciscokid — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:44:00 +0000

Jorge, i think TC does a great job of presenting a balanced view on a variety of issues. you’re obviously upset about this – strange? chill…..

By: Gow

Gow — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:16:49 +0000

Wow. That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while.

http://www.appl...v-converter.com

By: Alfred Toh

Alfred Toh — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 02:37:21 +0000

I think Chris can safely ignore the letter since they don’t run the site: searchels.com
What a moron.. If I were Sony, I’ll think about getting a new laywer.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 02:15:05 +0000

Do you guys at TC actually think before you write these articles?

Grouper’s problem is that Searchles is removing their identifying the video and essentially claim it as their own, without crediting Grouper. And on top of that, Searchles is using Grouper’s content for commercial purposes that aren’t protected by any sort of fair use.

That’s the textbook definition of copyright infringement. There’s no precedent set by this case.

It would be different if a user uploaded a Grouper clip as part of a video they made *using* Searchles, but that’s not the issue here.

By: Phil Butler

Phil Butler — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:28:51 +0000

The Viacom-Google suit may establish a legal precedent that, combined with all these other “lawyer paydays’, could shake up in the video craze. If Google looses, or even if the court “splits the baby”, video communities might be penny stocks overnight.
As Marshall points out, these companies might be wiser to be a little more forgiving so that the “goose” is not slain!
I hope this helped the discourse!
Phil

By: Hornswaggled

Hornswaggled — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:18:09 +0000

That letter was written horribly. “Indeed, it does not appear your site even complies with the DMCA.” Why is that in the letter? I imagine a 15 year old with a smirk writing that trying to sound impressive, indeed.

By: Ilya Lichtenstein

Ilya Lichtenstein — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:08:14 +0000

As much as I hate asinine DMCA notices, Grouper may have a bit of a point. Unlike Splashcast, Searchles does not link back to the original video site where the video is posted. It’s a nitpick, but it may give them an advantage in court, if this ever gets that far.

That said, video hosting sites need to remember that they do not automatically own all video uploaded to them, and thus have absolutely no right to limit its distribution.

By: Jonathan Cohen

Jonathan Cohen — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:02:28 +0000

They don’t even spell the URL right. For $500/hr, you’d think the attorney could be more accurate