I got an email from YouTube saying that three of my videos on the 80sNostalgia YouTube channel had been claimed by Hearst Entertainment. They were three short clips of Defenders Of The Earth, an 80s cartoon. To be perfectly honest, 95% of the videos on my channel are clips of 80s TV shows, so I’m surprised that I get so few emails from YouTube. The email that YouTube sends to Channel owners explains which video has been claimed, who by, who to contact if you disagree and what the options are as a channel owner.
Over the many hundreds of years I’ve used the internet for (well, it feels like that,) I’ve had quite a few companies copyright strike my videos. In the past I’ve chosen to get in touch with companies to ask why they want the content removed. Most of the conversations have gone like this:
Me : Hi, you’ve requested my video (a small clip of your cartoon) be removed. Can I ask why?
Them : Because WE own it.
Me : I know that you own it, but what is the reason you’re requesting it be removed?
Them : You’re making money by showing our content, and that is theft.
Me : My channel isn’t monetised. I’m making no money from it. I’m just sharing memories of great 80s cartoons. It’s free advertising for you. If you revoke the copyright claim I’ll add a link to you to the description so people know where to buy it from.
Them : erm…. ok. *begrudgingly revokes claim*
Some companies go even further than this. One company, the Anderson group (Thunderbirds, Terrahawks, etc…) realised very quickly that I was just sharing their great IPs to a large audience and helping to spread the memories, and they even offered to send me higher resolution clips than the ones I had. They couldn’t have been nicer about it!
Anyway, the most recent copyright claim I’ve received is for Defenders Of The Earth. The clips they have copyright claimed were each 30 seconds long and had a few thousand views each. I decided to email Hearst Entertainment to ask them why:
To kfs********@hearst.com on 2025-05-02
Subject : Defenders of the Earth Intro
Hi,
I received a copyright removal request from YouTube for a few Defenders of the Earth clips.
I’ve removed the videos in line with the requests, but I wanted to just ask why you requested them to be removed? I’m not arguing about anything, I just want to understand what the reason was.
Thanks,
Craig.
Keep it nice and simple. No arguments, no objections, I just deleted their video and asked why they don’t want it online. But they didn’t reply, so I emailed them again.
To kfs********@hearst.com on 2025-05-08
Subject : Defenders of the Earth Intro
Hi again,
Just following up on my email from last week, enquiring why you requested for a few of my videos to be removed from YouTube? I’ve included my previous email below, along with the original email I received from YouTube below that.
I imagine the Bank Holiday last week probably made made you busier than normal. I know it did for me! I had such a backlog come Tuesday, and I imagine the same thing happened to you.
I hope you have caught up a bit with emails now and that you find the time to reply to me.
Thanks,
Craig.
They must have caught up with their bank holiday backlog, as I did get a reply!
To Craig A on 2025-05-08
Subject : RE: Defenders of the Earth Intro
Hi,
The content you posted is Copyrighted, that is why we asked for it to be removed from your channel. We always give channels 7 days to remove infringements to avoid a Copyright strike from YouTube.
Best,
Hearst Entertainment/KFS
Ok… They didn’t mention the usual “you’re making money out of our content”, just point out that they own it, so I’ll just ask why having fewer people watching it is better.
To kfs********@hearst.com on 2025-05-09
Subject : RE Defenders of the Earth Intro
Morning!
Thanks so much for replying. I do appreciate you coming back to me, but your reply made me realise that my question was a bit ambiguous, so apologies for that.
Just clarify, I understand the reasons why companies request removal of videos due to ownership, and I totally respect that which is why I removed them, but I don’t understand the bigger reason behind it. What purpose does it serve to have fewer people aware of your great 80s cartoon? Why would you want to reduce the potential reach it has, ensuring fewer people are reminded of how good it was?
I’ve had people message me over the past 25 years asking “What was that cartoon with *insert name here* in it?” for many different shows, and I would always point them towards my site, or in later years towards my YouTube clips. They would usually go and watch a few clips and start a discussion on my forum, and sometimes even go and buy a DVD from Amazon or EBay to relive some of the nostalgia.
But asking for clips to be removed seems to actively promote the opposite of that. It’s coming across as though you would prefer to not share the good childhood memories.
Is that the goal?
Again, thanks for coming back to me. I really would be interested in the reason behind why you’re removing clips of such great shows.
Thanks,
Craig.
I think that was quite a good question. I genuinely hoped they didn’t claim copyright just to prove that they owned it and I clung onto the hope that there was a little bit more to it than just “WE JUST WANT TO SHOW YOU THAT WE OWN IT!”
I waited a week but had no reply. Perhaps Hearst were not sure of what their goal actually was. Maybe if I recapped, I thought, that may help them understand better…
To kfs********@hearst.com on 2025-05-15
Subject : RE Defenders of the Earth Intro
Hello again, people of Hearst!
I’m just following up on my previous email (included below). You were kind enough to reply to one of my earlier emails, so I was hoping you wouldn’t mind replying to this one too. As a week has passed since I last emailed I’m just following up with a friendly nudge.
As a quick recap, I received copyright strikes for videos on my YouTube channel which, because they were clips of great 80s cartoons owned by Hearst, I had no issue removing and did so without argument. But I don’t understand what benefit removing them is to you, or to everyone who would otherwise have come across them?
Pro-actively searching for short clips of fantastic 80s cartoons which had been uploaded online purely to share the nostalgia, (which were being shared purely in a way that celebrated how good they were,) and then asking for them to be removed seems like you’re trying to erase any positive link to the past. I genuinely find it bizarre. Neither of us are benefitting from them not being online.
Would you mind if I re-uploaded them? And if I did re-upload them, would you like me to add any specific text to the description or any specific links to where visitors could buy your DVDs or Blu-Rays after their childhood excitement has been reignited? Your Marketing Department might see this as beneficial, in that it is advertising that Hearst doesn’t have to pay for, so would you mind checking with them too please?
Please help me to understand why not having these short clips of great cartoons online is in any way better for either of us.
Again, thanks for replying to a previous email and I hope you find time to reply to this one.
Thanks,
Craig.
Two weeks after asking them “Please help me to understand why not having these short clips of great cartoons online is in any way better for either of us” and I’ve had no reply.
So I guess Hearst requesting the removal of those clips was NOT in any way better for either of us.
Well done, Hearst! *rollseyes*