Can I get into trouble for this?

M

Mustafa Safeer

Member
Hi, so in 2013 I brought a YT channel that was partnered with Machinima and at the time the channel was inactive/dead with 800 subscribers.

2 years later it's doing well, I have 4000 subscribers and active viewership and have started to sort out my Machinima stuff (Payments and whatnot)

However, the actual contract is signed on with the original dudes name whereas the new stuff like my Machinima Console name is signed on with my name.

Machinima have contacted me by saying the following
Hello,


There is a discrepancy with the information on record for Machinima network channel xPuLzeee.


The contract is under name: *Name*


The Console registration is under name: *Name*

Please clarify this for us and we’ll respond accordingly.


Thank you

Now I guess we go to my question which is, can I get into trouble for this? I don't see what I've done wrong myself as the contract was already signed and I didn't force the dude to sell his account, it was a mutual transaction?

Anyway, thankyou for your response.
 
I think your transaction (the switch of the channel) is illegal because most likely there will be a rule into the ToS of YouTube that prohibits users from doing that. And also it isn't smart of you to buy a channel that's signed with a network.

Imagine Real Madrid offering a player from Barcelona a contract because the player sits on the bench in Barcelona. It would make no sense that he would be able to legally play for Real Madrid (while he has a contract at Barcelona), let alone that Real Madrid want to give him a contract for that matter.

To say it gentle, I think you're absolutely stupid.
 
But can I get into trouble? The channel was purchasable to absolutely anyone, and I was just so the person who brought it. And I'm under the age of 18, and of course buying it 2 years ago I was around 14-15... I shouldn't be getting into trouble for something that happened almost 3 years ago?
 
Yes, you almost certainly can. And to be honest, it's pretty messed up that you tried that in the first place, while everyone else has to start with nothing. You piggybacked off of someone else's hard work, and they'll probably delete your account for trying to steal from Machinima (which you are, it doesn't matter how mutual your purchase was). They signed the original owner, not you.
 
What Wildfire says. It's against the Terms of Use of YouTube so you're lucky your account hasn't been deleted yet. If I were you I wouldn't put any more effort in that channel because it will most likely soon be over.
 
Piggyback!? He sold it to me. I didn't force him into selling, and on top of that he had 800 INACTIVE subscribers, I built the channel to where it's at now with over 4,000 there's no "piggybacking" of anything, we had each other on Skype he asked me to pay him x amount, I did so and got the channel. I didn't sell it, I merely brought the channel.

Also I haven't stolen anything of Machinima as Machinima has never helped me in any way and I've never been paid by them also. I mean if this goes to court then I'm all for it simply because I didn't do anything wrong. When Anthony (The original owner) sold it to me, he fully knew what he was doing I can't get into trouble for buying the channel with my own money just as much as the next guy.
 
Mustafa Safeer said:
Piggyback!? He sold it to me. I didn't force him into selling, and on top of that he had 800 INACTIVE subscribers, I built the channel to where it's at now with over 4,000 there's no "piggybacking" of anything, we had each other on Skype he asked me to pay him x amount, I did so and got the channel. I didn't sell it, I merely brought the channel.

Also I haven't stolen anything of Machinima as Machinima has never helped me in any way and I've never been paid by them also. I mean if this goes to court then I'm all for it simply because I didn't do anything wrong. When Anthony (The original owner) sold it to me, he fully knew what he was doing I can't get into trouble for buying the channel with my own money just as much as the next guy.
Click to expand...
How many times do we need to say it?
Selling AND buying is against the ToS of YouTube. It most likely will never go to court (you're absolutely not clever) but you most likely will get yourself your account deleted.
 
Er.. it is not illegal to sell your channel.
It may be against the Terms of Service, but that doesn't mean something is illegal.
For all we know it is a legal purchase. Like for instance, if the old channel owner changed it to a business name, and then the business was sold to the OP. That is just a change in ownership of the business, even though it is the same entity.

I mean it doesn't look like that is what happened, but, I do want to point out there are ways of doing it legally.

Either way, the question of getting the account terminated is a possibility. When you purchased the channel, was the copyright of the videos included in the purchase?
What I would do is attempt to terminate the contract with the MCN with the fact that the original owner no longer owns the channel or the copyright to the videos(if applicable).

If you own the copyrights to the videos, start moving them over to a new channel, etc.

No matter what anyone says in here, the copyright of a video, is a legally assignable asset. If you have assignment of said copyright, the video is yours do what you will to it.

Either way, start uploading to a new channel... try as hard as you can to convert your current subscribers to the new channel.
 
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