"The Ropers" have disappeared from youtube  

Re: "The Ropers" have disappeared from youtube

They were pulled because of copyright infringement. Whether there is or isn't a release happening, they would have been pulled when someone found out about them being on You Tube.

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I love when people pull stuff from YouTube that isn't commercially available. Gee, you're against tape-trading (as is this site) but yet you won't release on DVD. Why do the consumers always have to lose-lose?

I've boycotted all things Viacom after the crap they've pulled from YouTube. Okay, I understand removing entire episodes of South Park, but 15-20 year old MTV News clips? what's the point of removing?

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and the use of MTV News Clips on YOU TUBE might fall under "fair use"

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Mini-marathon of "The Ropers" on WGN Tues. Oct. 28 from 8 - 10 PM (ET).

Re: "The Ropers" have disappeared from youtube

There is such a thing as .... let's see, can we say it all together? Let's see ...

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

This does NOT mean that it's being prepared for release.

YouTube receives thousands of requests per day for material to be removed from their site ...

Re: "The Ropers" have disappeared from youtube

I've never seen the actual show The Ropers, either- but ya gotta love Norman Fell- and had I known these clips were on Youtube, I would've watched them!!!

Seems like a lot of good things are disappearing from the internet lately...much like in real life.

Sheesh! I coming to loathe these studios more and more! Either make the freakin' shows available to those who want them and are willing to pay for 'em...or STFU when individuals share some 25 year-old videotapes!

WB's actions are foolish and actually hurt sales. By leaving the clips up on Youtube, a lot of people may have come to be interested in the show and apt to buy it if it is ever released- and a lot of us who have never seen the sho, might just be turned onto it through the Youtube clips!

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Everything you say is SO true. People who scream "Copyright infringement!" are shooting themselves in the foot. It's incredibly selfish. They'd rather have NO ONE be able to see these episodes, even though they're not available for purchase anyway. How do you lose money on something that can't be bought??

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No one likes that studios don't make all shows available but just because something isn't available doesn't give me or anyone else the right to violate the law. It has nothing to do with selfishness or no one seeing the episodes or the studios making or not making money- it's the law and unless that changes, the studios have every right to protect their copyrights and pull things off the internet.

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That says it all!



It's pretty scarey that that IS the law. I could see prohibiting the duplication and copying of intellectual properties for profit- but when something is disemminated over the public airwaves, it should be considered a part of our culture and have no prohibitions against re-disemminating it in that form.

I mean, when you think abou, how far can they take this? It may just come to the pount soon, where if you walk down the street and hum a popular song, that you'll be arrested for copyright infringement!

There has to be a happy median- where copyright owners are protected...and yet where the public should be able to reference and use the things which are put out over public airwaves, or for which they paid to obtasin a copy of.

The laws used to be much more similar to what I just stated, until quite recently- because no doubt, the media companies spent bazillions lobbying, to get the government to police their customers...when this should not even be a matter of government involvement. (And the real scary thing is, with the government being the repository of all copyrights, and the author of all law determining how copyrighted material may be used- as well as them technically being the owner of the internet- one can see a future where the government will control the disemmination of all information- yikes!)

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I agree to some degree but, unfortunately, we're stuck with it unless the law changes.

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It amazes me that some people can justify breaking somebody else's copyright on something they created as a jusitification for breaking the law ... there is a reason why copyrights exist and it isn't to entertain you.

Studios have copyright's to movies, television shows and music for a reason. They created it or they were responsible for it. Just because you don't like their policy doesn't give you the right to violate their copyrights.

I'm glad they took them down because 99% of the episodes that are uploaded to YouTube are of very p**s-poor quality that they can't even bear watching.

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Sorry- but I do not consider the verdicts of Congress/The Legislature to be the definition of what is truly right or wrong.(Especially when those verdicts exist as a result of special-interest lobbying- which is often a nice euphemism for bribery. And when they pertain to something which the constitution never gave government the right to control).

While my fidelity to property rights (intellectual and otherwise) is fierce, it must be realized that when you diseminate something to the general public, you are thereby giving up a certain ammount of privacy/ownership right.

For instance, if you have a store that is ope to the public, you are waiving some of your rights in order to let the public shop at that store.

Suppose you purchase a DVD and allow some family members and friends to watch it- are you infringing upon the author's copyright?

If not, then why are you infringing on that right if you make that same material available to "electronic friends" or strangers who view your webpage? If strangers peeked in your living room window and saw the show...would that be infringing on copyright?

And I could make a stronger case for a show that was broadcast over public airwaves. If the public was intended and encouiraged to see it....how does it harm the copyright holder if that material is rebroadcast (especially in an inferior quality compared to the original)?

Logic dictates that what is broadcast over public airwaves or otherwise distributed to the public, the public has a right to use for non-commercial purposes.

Mans laws often don't make sense. There was a law not long ago, which relegated blacks to riding in the back of the bus, and which sent Jews and others to concentration camps. Men's laws do not have a good track record.

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I'm really........REALLY surprised Anchor Bay hasn't gone ahead and released "The Ropers" on DVD yet. I spent the past week or so watching the first 3 seasons of "Three's Company" again, and it just amazes me that they haven't cashed in on the spinoff. I'm sure it would do well in sales, as the seasons of "3's Co." were a big hit. I'd buy it in a split second.

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You better, or end up fined or in prison. Wrong. Studios and copyright holders decide who is licensed to air or distribute their product. Most tv stations pay fees to air these shows or at least have permission.
You are not seriously comparing racism and persecution to copyright law are you? In any case, the two are not equal in comparision. I know you're just trying to make a point, but, don't let you're passion cloud your judgement. Take it easy.

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How naive have people become when they start believing their own line of crap? Ignorance must be truly bliss when people start believing their own rhetoric. If we were to believe what you have just posted, then the RIAA nor the MPAA would be filing copyright lawsuits against downloaders in the United States and ISP's wouldn't be installing filters into their services to prevent downloading copyright material.

Let's face it, when you get caught downloading the Ropers or viewing the Ropers on a website who doesn't have the rights to display it, then you are in breach of someone's copyright.

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I do agree with a lot that you said. Unfortunately, in our society, people use rules as a means to control. I understand the copyright laws are to control mass production and sales of these properties but seeing shows on youtube is small beans compared to actually producing a bootleg copy of the show and selling it as your own product. Personally, I hate watching stuff on youtube. Not the same effect as watching it on your own tv.

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No. I am illustrating the fact that men often enact faulty and ridiculous laws, which are often contradictory to morality and logic- and which a moral person has an obligation to oppose rather than to uphold.

And while the copyright holder indeed chooses who may use their product- it has become the government who has authored what constitutes copyright infringement- and that definition has changed (I believe it was in the 90's that the rules were rewritten).

It used to be that a record company would distribute their records to radio stations, just hoping that they would get played. Now, a radio station must pay royalties for every song it dares to play. Some copyright holders may not even be in favor of the new rules- so those rules get selectively enforced in an uneven way- and often a person walks a fine line between compliance and transgression....but since no one wants to incurr liability, most people will err on the side of caution- and therefore the full thrust of the law is applied to all situations. (i.e. Joe Blow posts a vid on Youtube with an identifiable song as background music. Someone reports it for copyright infringement because of the song, and Youtube removes it to avoid liability, even though the copyright holder has not complained).

I am a staunch advocate of property rights- but it is because I am, that I can see that the legislators have erred in this matter, largely due to the influence of special-interest lobbying.

Again, where do you draw the line? If I read quotes to you from a book, or read that book to an audience, am I infringing on the author's copyright? Now if I zeroxed that book and offered it for sale, that'd be a different story.

I mean..what's it going to come to? Before long, we'll need a license to own a TV, like in the UK!



Me too! It's a nice way to get the gist of something that you're not familiar with (I often use it to preview shows that I haven't seen in ages, or which I am not too familiar with, to help me decide if I want to purchse those shows on DVD...).

I have some Seinfeld eps on CD-ROM in MPEG format that I can watch on my omputer (someone made them for me years ago, because I like Seinfeld, but I do not have my TV hooked up to the outside world), and I really can't even enjoy watching those! (I'll be buying the Seinfeld complete series soon...).

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Richie, give it a rest, will you? I'm sure if you created a television series pilot and Paramount, Warner Brothers or the CN Network took your pilot and turned it into a series without your consent you would be screaming "they stole my idea" and "I own the rights to that show."

There's a reason why copyright law protects the rights of the creators, they serve a purpose. Just because you don't agree with the copyright laws because they haven't released the show to DVD doesn't give you the right to interpret the laws so they benefit you.

Rather than sit here and complain about it why don't you create a petition about it or send a letter to the studio asking them to release it?

Seems to be they're just the ravings of someone who's not getting their way.

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For someone with a lot of opinions about the law, you do not appear to know it well. Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution authorizes Congress:

That's Congress' constitutional authority to establish patents and copyrights. But let's leave that aside.

You have joined a site with explicit rules. One of them states as follows:
The choice for you (and for everyone here) is a simple one: Either post in accordance with this Rule, or post elsewhere. Departure may be voluntary or involuntary, but if you don't abide by this Rule, departure is a certainty.

And we mean what we say about having no interest in discussing what the law "should be". Belief in a higher morality has been abused as much as the law (if not more); everyone can think of their own examples.

This thread has been closed as serving no further purpose.