DECLARATION OF ALLEN ASCH REGARDING YOUTUBE VIDEO TITLED:

“Did James Carville Out-Colbert Stephen Colbert?”

 

 

            I, ALLEN ASCH, declare as follows:

            I am the person who created, controls, and uses the YouTube account under the username “LiberalViewer.”

            I reside at XXXXXXXXX, Sacramento, CA 95821 and my home phone number is (916) XXX-XXXX.

            My home address is within the jurisdiction of the United States District Court in the Eastern District of California, I consent to the jurisdiction of that court, and I will accept service of process from Comedy Central, Viacom, and/or their agents at my home address.

            On November 1, 2006, YouTube notified me that, as a result of a third-party notification by Comedy Central claiming that my material is infringing, YouTube had disabled access to the following material I uploaded to YouTube:

My video titled “Did James Carville Out-Colbert Stephen Colbert?” at the URL, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzCW4SYvEJk.

            Although I am no expert on intellectual property law and my study of the subject provided murky answers at best, I am informed and I believe in good faith that my video fits well within the FAIR USE exception to the copyrights laws for the following reasons:

            1. My video is noncommercial and its purpose is to educate people on public issues and provide media analysis/criticism commentary that transforms the fairly used material into something substantially different.

2. While Comedy Central airs primarily entertainment programming, the fairly used material was chosen for its news value and studies show Comedy Central does have substantial news content. See, e.g., Lee Hurwitz, “Daily Show News Equal to Networks: IU Study Finds Coverage Rivals ABC, CBS, NBC,” Indiana Daily Student (October 5, 2006) at http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.php?id=38119

3. The fairly used material is made up of short clips (the portions of the fairly used material with unmuted audio are all less than 60 seconds in length) and each clip is taken from a different 30 minute television episode.

4. My video has a small audience (the YouTube website says this video got less than 10,000 views, some of which are not unique) and, as something of a “fan tribute,” I believe my video actually increases the market for Comedy Central programming, if it affects that market at all.

            I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct except for those things stated on information and belief, and, as to those things, I have a good faith belief they are true.

            Executed November 2, 2006, at Sacramento, CA.

           

                                                                              

                                                                                          

                                                                               ___________________________________                     

                                                                                           ALLEN ASCH

                                                                                           YouTube username “LiberalViewer”