Ubisoft Steps Up to Deal with YouTube Copyright Threats

Regular readers will know that here at SPOnG we rarely swallow and repeat the marketing and PR bullstuff chucked out by a games industry in search of new ways to make old stuff seem new. So when we release a burst of applause, we mean it: Well done Ubisoft!

We've been sent an email that begins: "As you’re probably aware, many YouTubers this week have suddenly been hit with various copyright claims related to in-game audio. In June last year, Ubisoft set out its policy opening the door for channels to make videos using game content and to monetise bespoke content." It then goes onto come up with a solution - or at least a route to a solution:

"If you happen to be hit with claims on any of your Ubisoft content, it may be that some of the audio is being auto-matched against the music catalogue on our digital stores - it might show up as being claimed by our distributor ‘idol’. In such cases please take the following steps and we can get it cleared for you.

1. Leave the video live for now.
2. Send us the URL of the affected video and let us know who flagged it.
3. We’ll get it cleared hopefully same day.

Hope this helps, thanks for all your support over the past year and for all the amazing videos! Look forward to working with you in a very exciting 2014!"

OK, so this also enables free Youtube marketing for Ubisoft via millions of fan and thousands of fan-produced videos but, hell, at least Ubi is taking positive action.