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Twitch updates appeals process for copyright claims

Twitch has acknowledged that its appeals process for copyright claims isn't entirely perfect, so they've updated their appeals process to be slightly more user-friendly.

Ozzie Mejia

May 4, 2015 2:20 PM

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Last year, Twitch began flagging gaming streams for copyrighted music content. Their initial approach has been imperfect, to say the least, with events like E3, GamesCom, and SOE Live having their audio muted and even publishers like Valve seeing streams of The International muted for using its own music.

Twitch has heard the complaints and is now testing out a whole new appeals process with Twitch Partners and with users saving videos in HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) format. Flagged videos will now go through a new step-by-step process, in which users can appeal music flags based on various reasons, including "fair use" (a big deal to content creators) and granted permission from the copyright holder. The user must then submit their full information before their appeal is sent off. Twitch has not issued an average estimate of how long the appeals process will take.

One interesting item to note is Twitch will state in the very first step reasons that appeals cannot be filed. One of those ineligible reasons is "in-game audio," which notes that in-game soundtracks may be claimed by a separate copyright. That is definitely problematic for games using licensed music and definitely falls into the category of things we worried about when this whole thing first started.

For more on the appeals process, visit the Twitch blog. The new appeals process won't be available to everyone off the bat, with Twitch noting that it will roll out over "the coming months."

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?