3 ms·

Isn't this copyright violation? Or am I just misunderstanding what copyright applies to?

kd5bjo 6y ago
Despite the branding, this isn’t actually a copy: it attempts to summarize each hours-long course into a handful of bullet points. That probably changes the expression enough that it’s original in the eyes of copyright law, and the underlying ideas are not subject to copyright. IANAL, but I suspect they’d have a larger issue with using all of these celebrities’ names and likenesses without permission.
- monoideism 6y ago
  Maybe, but the fact that they attributed the pieces to those celebrities suggests they weren't very careful about legal boundaries. To say the least.
- mittermayr 6y ago
  It's odd, because the content itself isn't actually very useful or any sort of "good" summary like a true cliffnotes type of thing — which should give them enough leeway to stay up and be fine. Yet, they're putting themselves right back in front of the gun: "We stole MasterClass' content..." Props to whoever drew all those illustrations, they really took the time, that's probably 99% of the effort there.
  - lapinot 6y ago
    > Props to whoever drew all those illustrations, they really took the time, that's probably 99% of the effort there. Most likely the same freelance contractors as wikihow. https://onezero.medium.com/we-finally-figured-out-who-makes-wikihows-bizarre-art-6c5d69b71347 https://onezero.medium.com/we-finally-figured-out-who-makes-...
- tibbetts 6y ago
  Sounds like a law school exam question about when it stops being parody and starts being deliberately confusing to consumers. Like if I sell Jock Doniels whiskey that’s only 10% alcohol, is that really a parody? Or the South Butt clothing brand.
yreg 6y ago
As long as they don't quote it verbatim they are fine. You may write a blog post about what you learned in the class… The issue here is the scale at which they do it. I don't have MasterClass so cannot confirm but it seems that at least parts of it are straight up parody e.g. How to Make Perfect Scrambled Eggs/step 13: Train as a chef in France
fortran77 6y ago
The content they're printing isn't really from the Master Class. It's someone's best guess as to the content with some satirical touches.

Despite the branding, this isn’t actually a copy: it attempts to summarize each hours-long course into a handful of bullet points. That probably changes the expression enough that it’s original in the eyes of copyright law, and the underlying ideas are not subject to copyright. IANAL, but I suspect they’d have a larger issue with using all of these celebrities’ names and likenesses without permission.

monoideism 6y ago
Maybe, but the fact that they attributed the pieces to those celebrities suggests they weren't very careful about legal boundaries. To say the least.
mittermayr 6y ago
It's odd, because the content itself isn't actually very useful or any sort of "good" summary like a true cliffnotes type of thing — which should give them enough leeway to stay up and be fine. Yet, they're putting themselves right back in front of the gun: "We stole MasterClass' content..." Props to whoever drew all those illustrations, they really took the time, that's probably 99% of the effort there.
- lapinot 6y ago
  > Props to whoever drew all those illustrations, they really took the time, that's probably 99% of the effort there. Most likely the same freelance contractors as wikihow. https://onezero.medium.com/we-finally-figured-out-who-makes-wikihows-bizarre-art-6c5d69b71347 https://onezero.medium.com/we-finally-figured-out-who-makes-...
tibbetts 6y ago
Sounds like a law school exam question about when it stops being parody and starts being deliberately confusing to consumers. Like if I sell Jock Doniels whiskey that’s only 10% alcohol, is that really a parody? Or the South Butt clothing brand.

yreg 6y ago

As long as they don't quote it verbatim they are fine. You may write a blog post about what you learned in the class… The issue here is the scale at which they do it. I don't have MasterClass so cannot confirm but it seems that at least parts of it are straight up parody e.g. How to Make Perfect Scrambled Eggs/step 13: Train as a chef in France

fortran77 6y ago

The content they're printing isn't really from the Master Class. It's someone's best guess as to the content with some satirical touches.