PokerTube Accused Of Unauthorized Content Use

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Wednesday, February 11th, 2015 | Written by Lucy Brown

PokerTube.com is the world’s biggest free poker media site, and contains hundreds of educational videos related to poker tournaments and strategies, as well as more general poker entertainments including videos of major tournaments from around the globe. Since being taken over by 180Vita in 2012, however, PokerTube has received criticism from many poker businesses and players alike, who have accused the site of using their content without permission. In June 2014, for instance, Bluff.com Editor in Chief Lance Bradley, tweeted:

“Blows my mind that @pokertube thinks it’s okay to steal content from other poker media outlets incl @bluffmagazine @wsop @poker_prod @espn”

Similarly, during last year’s WSOP the Pokernews.com managing editor Brett Collson sarcastically tweeted:

“The “unrivalled” @WSOP coverage that @pokertube promised this summer looks awfully similar to ours. Weird.”

In the most recent controversy to hit the site, Bluff.com Editor in Chief Lance Bradley questioned the legitimacy of PokerTube once again, sparking a debate on Twitter with posters lining up on both sides of the debate.

180Vita Ltd Owned

Based in Scotland, 180Vita was founded in 2008 and owns and operates a number of online businesses such as PokerVIP, Weaktight, FootballTube, and Tipday. Each month the company’s websites generate millions of dollars in revenue, with the stated goal of PokerTube.com being to make the site the number one destination for poker players of every level looking to improve their poker skills or just watch their favorite poker pros in action. The way in which the site has gone about collecting and offering its poker resources, however, has attracted criticism that PokerTube.com is less about “sharing” and more about “stealing.”

Accusations Of Plagiarism

Getting involved in the debate over the weekend was a frustrated Bluff.com Editor in Chief Lance Bradley, who accused the site of plagiarism, and even called out poker legend Phil Ivey for tweeting a link out to them. During the debate, Bradley said that if the site really wanted to share content and help people go pro then it should just “embed the YouTube video and not rip it and post as their own.” This point gained further support from Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski, who had previously expressed his willingness to share content on his own site, even from competitors.

Industry Needs To Stand Together

The online debate also attracted the attention of PokerNews.com Head of Product Matthew Parvis, whose tweet on February 7th ultimately lead to the heated discussion breaking out on the TwoPlusTwo forums, after he wrote:

“We as an industry need to stand together against @pokertube’s continuous abuse of intellectual property. Please RT.”

While many in the industry said they understood and lent their support to Parvis’ position, some players on the other hand seemed to welcome the traffic their instructional videos receive on account of PokerTube, with one poster by the name ChicagoJoey, writing:

“I look at it like traffic my videos would not have gotten otherwise but I can see why people are really upset about it.”

Not First Time Accused Of Stealing Content

Unlike YouTube which uses content ID scans to ensure uploaded videos have no previous copyright claims filed against them, Pokertube has no such service in place and relies on copyright holders contacting the site themselves in the case of an infringement. This has resulted in a belief within the poker industry that Pokertube is not doing enough to actively seek out and remove copyrighted material. While PokerTube has yet to release an official comment over the latest controversy to plague the website, last June representative Stewart Dunlop did release a statement to 4Flush in which it attempted to address a number of key issues.

In his rebuttal, Dunlop explained that Pokertube receives only a minimal amount of takedown requests each year, and that the ones it did were dealt with within 24 hours. He then said he felt “blind sided” by Bluff.com’ response as Pokertube’s content included a Bluff introduction, watermark and description citing it as belonging to the site. Finally, Dunlop emphasized the positive role Pokertube can have on the poker industry, stating:

“A number of media outlets understand that Pokertube is good for the poker world and introduces many new players to the game. These outlets have given Pokertube explicit permission to publish their content even although it does not belong to Pokertube.. We do not have any ‘Content ID’ process, but obviously recognize when content is not original Pokertube. If content is being uploaded that clearly belongs to a party such as Bluff media, it will not be published.”