The UFC and NFL filed take down notices for copyright infringement against the twitter accounts for the sports web site Deadspin and the Vox Media-owned SB Nation Gif account per CNN Money. As of Tuesday morning, the Deadspin account had returned to twitter but the SB Nation Gif account remains suspended.
THIRD UPDATE: The UFC only filed a take down notice against Deadspin and not the SB Nation Gif account per NY Times.
SECOND UPDATE: Per Forbes.com, the UFC specifically took issue with a Deadspin tweet related to Ronda Rousey’s last fight. One could surmise they played the entire fight from UFC 190 or at least the KO.
UPDATED: For those wondering, takedown notices are governed under Title II, Section 512 of the DMCA which is found here.
Takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) were issued to both Deadspin and SB Nation for alleged violations of copyright. Both twitter accounts routinely use GIFs from the NFL and other sports. Per CNN Money, there were 33 pages of notices filed by NetResult, an Internet copyright monitoring company acting on behalf of the NFL and UFC.
Engadget reports that the takedown list request includes a number of video files from Deadspin’s main account and @SBNationGif. The requests will be submitted to the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse – an independent 3rd party research project studying cease and desist letters concerning online content.
Per ESPN, the NFL and Twitter announced a two-year content and advertising deal that would send more NFL video highlights and pictures from games through Twitter.
Although maybe not a direct correlation, Deadspin has published critical pieces of both the NFL and UFC. Recently a Josh Gross article about Vitor Belfort received much praise for his investigation that the UFC allowed Belfort to fight despite troubling drug test results pre-fight. But the article received a scant reply from the UFC.
Payout Perspective:
The take down of both twitter accounts were interesting for the sheer fact of the multitude of followers that use each for news/entertainment and thus it was a noticeable loss on twitter. It could be just coincidence that Deadspin have published critical articles about the UFC and NFL. You may also say the same for SB Nation although the use of gifs may be the key to the take downs. Notably, the UFC has cracked down on gifs of fights in the past. At a time when the ownership of new technology is still somewhat unsettled, these take downs represent the progression of protection of league rights in media. MMA Payout will continue to follow.
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