[Off-topic] mahjong:
Last Friday (Oct 3) I was in the office and someone play in his PC the Village People's YMCA song. So I grab my builders helmet and start dancing doing silly things... very common on me I must say.

A collegue grab his Nokia and record a video of me dancing with the helmet while YMCA sounds in the background.

A very very silly video. But men... I like doing this things on videos so I asked my collegue to send me the video and I place it in my YouTube account. Everyone laught.

The Saturday I received a email in english from a company called SPORPIO MUSIC SA (S.A. usually is used in spanishs limited companies). The email told me that I was violating the copyright rights of Village People owned by SCORPIO MUSIC SA and a lot of warnings and "I will sue you" stuff.

Belive me... I thought It was a joke or something so I answer with something similar to "get lost". As a matter of fact I thought the message was sent to me due to the joke I place in the name of the video... a difficult to translate joke about Village People sexual preferences. Nothing rude belive me.

Well this monday I received a email from Youtube telling me that they blocked the video under the request of SCORPIO MUSIC SA. So I deleted the video.

I'm officialy suprised... I'm more surprised than hungry...

Here I enclose the SCORPIO MUSIC SA warning email and the Youtube one (the second one in spanish).

Beg your pardon about my english... is not my mother-language.

====================== Scorpio Music SA dixit:

RE: Village People

WEB SHERIFF

Protecting Your Rights on the Internet

Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013

Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080

websheriff@websheriff.com

www.websheriff.com

STRICTLY PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

ATTENTION ADDRESSEE ONLY

COPYRIGHT PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION

& WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Hi tejedor1967,

We hope you're well and, by way of introduction, Web Sheriff represents Scorpio Digital, Can’t Stop Productions and The Village People in relation to the administration and protection of their on-line rights.

We’re writing to you in respect of your Village People related clip ... .. you might not be aware that, in order to synchronize your footage with The Village People’s music and recordings - and assuming that you are not re-arranging or adapting The Village People’s songs – you actually require a synchronization license from Can’t Stop’s and Scorpio’s music publishers and record distributors, which, unfortunately, is more complicated than you might imagine.

That being said - and having secured special, fan exemptions / automatic, copyright clearances - we are very happy to be able to inform you that, subject simply to providing an industry standard, courtesy credit, we shall now be able to provide you with direct permission to keep your Village People clip on YouTube (and, indeed, any other clips featuring The Village People’s music and background recordings, provided, again, that the lyrics and arrangements are not changed - as this would require yet further clearances and, of course, the consent of the authors themselves). The text of the credit should simply say "Copyright recordings, music and lyrics reproduced by kind permission of Can’t Stop Productions and Scorpio Digital – for original, exclusive performances by The Village People, check-out the official channel at http://uk.youtube.com/user/scorpiodigital" and this should be prominently displayed at the very beginning of your description of the clip.

We are writing to you directly, as a fan, in order that your account does not get suspended or terminated by YouTube. Also, this permission is conditional / revocable, so we would kindly ask you to ensure that your clip and the accompanying wording is not rude or obscene and that it does not infringe the authors’ moral rights in their music and lyrics.

For the avoidance of doubt, this permission ONLY applies to the use of The Village People’s music in conjunction with your own, appropriate footage and any use of original recordings must be background ONLY and NOT overdubbed. NO permission shall be granted for the use of Can’t Stop or Scorpio copyright footage or audio or footage / audio that actually features The Village People.

We'll look forward to hearing from you should you have any queries and, meanwhile, many thanks for understanding and respecting the artist's wishes. For your info, up-to-the-minute news on The Village People is, of course, available on http://www.officialvillagepeople.com and http://www.scorpiomusic.fr . We’re also pleased to announce that an increasing archive of exclusive film footage of Village People performances has now been made available for fans on Scorpio Digital’s official YouTube channel at http://uk.youtube.com/user/scorpiodigital .

As you will appreciate, this e-mail is written on a without prejudice basis and, as such, all of our clients' accumulated, worldwide rights and remedies remain strictly reserved : please excuse this required formality. This communication is also confidential and copyright - and, again, without prejudice - and, as such, all communication to third parties (other than, of course, your legal representatives) is strictly prohibited : please excuse this further formality which, hopefully, we'll soon be able to dispense with. : )

With Thanks & Regards,

WEB SHERIFF

=================== Los alegres muchachos de Youtube dixit:

Estimado miembro:

Te informamos de que hemos retirado el siguiente material o impedido el acceso al mismo al haber recibido una notificación por parte de SCORPIO MUSIC S.A. / CAN'T STOP PRODUCTIONS INC. en la que dicho titular afirma que dicho material infringe:

Momento homogay... ay Dios: http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=lzdOVbekdg0

Aviso: las infracciones reiteradas de los derechos de copyright darán lugar a la eliminación de tu cuenta y de todos los vídeos subidos a ella. Para evitarlo, retira todos los vídeos para los que no dispongas de los derechos necesarios y no subas más vídeos que infrinjan los derechos de copyright de otras personas. Para obtener más información sobre la política de copyright de YouTube, lee la guía Consejos sobre copyright.

Si decides enviarnos una contranotificación, accede a nuestro Centro de asistencia para consultar las instrucciones necesarias.

Ten en cuenta que, de acuerdo con la sección 512(f) de la ley sobre derechos de copyright, se puede exigir responsabilidad jurídica a cualquier persona que denuncie intencionadamente y sin fundamento que la retirada de un material o de una actividad o la denegación de acceso a los mismos se ha debido a un error o a una identificación errónea.

Atentamente,

YouTube, Inc.