Fair Use Protection Account

The **Fair Use Protection Account** (**FUPA**), also known as the **FUPA Fund**, was an escrow account created by Ethan Klein in 2016. The fund is dissolved and is no longer used. The goal of the account was to help other fellow content creators fund fair use legal lawsuits taken up against them. The account was placed in the trust of the law firm Morrison/Lee. Users were directed to contact the @FUPAforFREEDOM page on X (then known as Twitter) for help.

The FUPA Fund was created after Ethan and Hila received donations numbering $170,765 to help them fund their lawsuit against Matt Hoss, in a GoFundMe page set up by Philip DeFranco.

## Background

> *See full article: Matt Hosseinzadeh v. Ethan Klein and Hila Klein*
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On April 27, 2016, YouTuber Matt Hoss filed a lawsuit against Ethan and Hila Klein, claiming that the Kleins had illegally used his YouTube videos on their commentary channel, h3h3productions. Hoss and his attorneys demanded that the Kleins remove their videos with his content, sign a mutual release and confidentiality agreement that they will never post his work again, and pay for Hoss' legal fees amounting to $3,750. The filing also made false claims that the Kleins purposefully misled users into thinking their video was a video by Hoss, and also that the Kleins doubled their subscriber count due to the video.

Ethan and Hila decided to keep the case going as they did not want to set a precedent in which content creators can sue other creators for using their work fairly. In an interview with TIME magazine, Ethan said that "the claim was a betrayal to users in the YouTube community, who are constantly being threatened over their work by 'bullies,' usually from large corporations."

## Philip DeFranco's GoFundMe

On May 25, 2016, fellow YouTuber Philip DeFranco created a GoFundMe page titled "Help for H3H3," which ended up raising $170,765 in order to help the Kleins with their legal fees. The enormous response provoked the Kleins to look beyond their own case. In a video titled "A New Chapter for Fair Use on YouTube" posted on May 26, 2016, Ethan and Hila announced the FUPA Fund, “that will be used only for the purpose of protecting fair use and representing people big or small who are in legitimate need of protection.”

## Payday 2 DLC

> *See full article: h3h3 Character Pack*
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On April 1, 2017, video game developer Overkill Software announced that Ethan and Hila were going to be added as downloadable characters to their first-person shooter video game *Payday 2*. In a break from tradition, the company announced that all profits from the downloadable content will be given to the Kleins to help in paying their legal fees for the case against Hoss.

## Backlash

Unfortunately, Ethan grossly underestimated the cost of his own legal fees. In a video posted onto YouTube on February 27, 2017, Ethan shows that just one month of attorney fees cost him $54,146.57. Both the FUPA Fund as well as several thousands more of his own money were used to fight the case. This caused criticism and controversy, including from the likes of Keemstar.

## References

1. ↑ Chan, Melissa (May 27, 2016). "This YouTube Star Got Sued, Raised $130,000, and Wants to Change the Site Forever". TIME Magazine. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
2. ↑ DeFranco, Philip (May 25, 2016). "Help for H3H3". GoFundMe. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
3. ↑ h3h3productions (May 26, 2016). "A New Chapter for Fair Use on YouTube". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
4. ↑ Steam. "PAYDAY 2: h3h3 Character Pack" DLC. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
5. ↑ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (May 11, 2017). "*Payday 2* Makers Donate DLC Profits To Help Big YouTubers Fight Legal Battle". Kotaku. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
6. ↑ h3h3productions (February 27, 2017). "We're Still Being Sued". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.
7. ↑ h3h3productions (May 19, 2020). "Content Nuke - Keemstar". via YouTube. Retrieved on September 11, 2023.