YouTube is apparently not finished taking down content from Comedy Central and other Viacom-owned cable channels from the video-sharing site.

Nearly a week after Viacom first asked YouTube to remove certain video clips of shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, take-down notices continued to trickle into video uploaders’ email in-boxes. Viacom and YouTube declined to elaborate on which videos they have targeted for removal.

On Tuesday, Viacom told Red Herring that it would allow some of its copyrighted content to stay on YouTube, leading analysts to speculate that a deal between Viacom and the video-sharing site could be in the works.

In the meantime, YouTube is inviting users to contest the removal of their content via written counter notices. However, those who choose to protest must offer up more than just their opinion on whether their work should be protected under “fair use.”

“Fair use” allows for the reproduction of a particular work for purposes including criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research, according to sections 107 through 118 of the Copyright Act.

Counter notices must include a subscriber’s name, address, and phone number, as well as consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the person lives, according to a notice obtained by Red Herring. And, according to the Digital Media Copyright Act, YouTube must turn that information over to Viacom.

“You’re basically inviting a lawsuit,” said Jason Schultz, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. “You don’t want to do a counter notice unless you think you have a good case in court, that’s the bottom line.”

But with all of the murkiness surrounding fair use, defining what is and isn’t legal is difficult, even for lawyers, added Mr. Schultz.

One subscriber, a Sacramento, California-based stay-at-home dad known as “LiberalViewer,” 41, said he plans to counter despite the risk. “LiberalViewer” injects criticism and commentary into segments from shows like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Fox News Channel in his YouTube videos.

To date, nearly 500,000 viewers have watched “Liberal Viewer’s” videos on YouTube. According to the DMCA, “LiberalViewer” could face fines of up to $30,000 per clip if he is found guilty of infringing copyright in court.

Mr. Schultz said subscribers who counter their infringement notices could take precautions that would make it more difficult for big media companies to find them and sue them. Those who respond could use a pseudonym or list a P.O. Box, rather than a real address.

People can also consult the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the DMCA entry on Wikipedia, or free legal clinics at Stanford, Harvard, and other universities to help gauge whether they are at risk of being sued for copyright infringement, said Mr. Schultz.

As for “LiberalViewer,” he said he plans to submit his counter notice to YouTube on Thursday. Viacom will have ten days to file a lawsuit, according to DMCA law.

“I don’t think I’m going to lose money on this,” he said. “Even if they would take me to court, I find it hard to believe that a judge would fine me that much money for what I’m doing.”

Contact the writer:AWeinstein@redherring.com

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