If you haven’t seen a Downfall spoof, or you don’t know what I am talking about, you are not meme-educated enough to keep reading. Go to YouTube, and search for “Hitler” and “Downfall.” Watch a few videos and come back.
For the rest of you, come over this way… I got the greatest Downfall video ever. Yeah, right here!
It seems that the producers of Downfall, Constantin Film Produktion GmbH., have been sending DMCA notices to YouTube to get them taken down. SIE SIND ASSHATTEN!!!
These notices should be responded to with a 512(f) suit, as these videos are fair use (and even a moron in a hurry would know that). Not only that, they are great marketing for the original film… as Mr. Hitler seems to have figured out….
Of course, here is one where Hitler is actually sending out the DMCA Notices. Maybe this one is the most awesome one ever.
Thilo, if you’re reading, will you write something to the producers in German in terms they can understand? Seriously, Constantin Film Produktion GmbH. has been getting every Downfall spoof taken off of Youtube. WTF is with you people?
H/T Coleman
Oh, and for the record, “Hitler finds out that Santa isn’t real” is the funniest Downfall spoof ever.
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That is fucking awesome and made up for my terrible day. :)
[…] is no secret that there are many Hitler Downfall parodies. The film makers are trying to stop them though a prominent First Amendment attorney says that this is “fair use”, pointing out that these parodies not only don’t hurt the film, but actually help […]
Laugh-out-loud funny….again!
Also, check out the original meta-Downfall parody, “Hitler Is A Meme”:
http://sean-o.com/hitlermeme
Can’t believe I wrote this a year and a half ago, and Hitler is still getting upset over Balloon Boy.
There is no such thing as fair use in Germany, unfortunately. The requirements for legal reuse are a lot stricter. IANAL, so I can’t say anything conclusive about Downfall parodies, but see for example films/albums etc. in the German Wikipedia, which are all lacking cover images for precisely this reason.
Since Google is also operating out of Germany, if Constantin Film is trying to get those clips removed through German legal channels, Google may find it less troublesome to just follow their requests rather than putting up a fight.
Ahhh…. very interesting. So perhaps the producers are using some German analogue to the DMCA?
That still doesn’t change the fact that the take down notices are stupid from a marketing perspective — but it might explain YouTube’s lack of a spine.
Marc:
I would LOVE to write to Constantin Film. What a bunch of idiots… Let me have call you next week and lets talk about what exactly I/we should tell them…
Best from sunny Madison, CT
Thilo
PS: Watching the Pats playing in Wembley right now…
Too funny!
And yes, what a bunch of idiots.
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Another great post, Marc. My favorite Downfall parody, still, as a Green Bay Packer Fan, is Hitler reacts to Favre’s move to the Vikings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDhD7ekiQPY
As a parody, it fails because it doesn’t satirize the original work, ala The Cat NOT In The Hat!”, but I agree fair use would be a good argument.
Right, but these two in this post actually satirize the owner of the work… I think those clearly pass the Acuff Rose test, nay?
Right, I just meant the Favre one wasn’t a true parody of the original work. These are.
Yup… although I have always thought that the 9th Circuit’s “parody is okay, but satire is not” distinction was bunk. Nevertheless, here we are…
I don’t know anything about the technicalities of copyright law, but I do know about marketing. Hitler was right the first time, it garners all sorts of publicity for the film it never would have gotten absent the spoofs. I would like to see the numbers of video rentals and sales during the past two years that the spoofs have gone viral.
I am in the process of doing a spoof of my own about the infamous idiot Kobe Bryant DA, Mark Hurlbert. He is running for state senate in Colorado, and for anyone who remembers him, he could play an extra as a Gestapo officer. He is presently the latest empty suit for GOP boss, Dick Wadhams. He’s the one who was supposed to be Karl Rove’s heir apparent, and who produced the ads for colorless Coloradan Senate candidates with the wrong mountains in the background.
BTW: I’m adding you to my blog roll at http://www.abusivediscretion.com aka Ex-Pat Ex-Lawyer.
Nice blog, Marc.
Sorry Marc, I didn’t pay the $15 bucks either.
My blawg is http://www.abusivediscretion.wordpress.com