Why it matters: Love them or hate them, there's little escaping YouTube reaction videos. Clips of people reacting to other content are incredibly popular, but a federal court ruling could have massive legal ramifications for those making a living from this trend.
The lawsuit in question involves Christopher Cordova, who runs the Denver Metro Audits channel, and Jonathan Huneault, creator of the Frauditor Troll channel.
Cordova alleges that Huneault used his copyrighted footage without permission, grabbing the clips via ripping tools that bypass YouTube's technical protections.
Cordova says this is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and goes against YouTube's terms and conditions, even though people have been ripping clips this way for years.
TorrentFreak wrote that Huneault's defense argued that Cordova couldn't prove ripping tools had been used, and that their client, along with many others, has used screen recording software in the past to copy content.
But US Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi denied the request by Huneault's lawyers to dismiss the DMCA circumvention claims.
"Mr. Cordova has adequately pled that YouTube applies technological measures, including 'rolling-cipher technology' designed to prevent unauthorized downloading, to videos published on its platform that effectively control access to his videos for purposes of § 1201(a)." Judge DeMarchi said.
"Whether the videos may be viewed by the public is immaterial; the [complaint] refers to technological measures intended to prevent unauthorized downloading."
Huneault could still win the case, but allowing the DMCA claim may have far-reaching implications for many creators.
Most reaction creators say their use of others' clips falls under fair use as they're adding commentary to extracts, rather than uploading someone else's entire video and profiting from it. Therefore, the way they acquired said footage doesn't matter.
However, Judge DeMarchi's decision suggests that reaction videos could face legal action if the footage was obtained using ripping tools that circumvent YouTube's protections.
Huneault's lawyers say that argument is a tactical maneuver that may eventually fall apart if Huneault didn't use a ripping tool.
"If fair use rights apply, and if there is no cognizable injury, then what would be their grounds to have proper standing?" said defense lawyer Steven C. Vondran.
It's impossible to provide an exact number of reaction YouTubers, as they reach into the thousands – potentially hundreds of thousands. Some of the most popular channels, such as React, have over 20 million subscribers. It'll be interesting to see what impact this ongoing case has on the industry.