Christopher Knight (filmmaker)
Christopher Knight | |
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Born | Robert Christopher Knight 1973/1974 (age 46–48)[1] |
Robert Christopher Knight (born 1973/1974) is a
Education
Knight graduated from
Career
Knight ran for one of five new
The first commercial that Knight created, dubbed simply "Christopher Knight for School Board Commercial #1",
Knight uploaded the commercial to
Knight aired two more commercials before the election, but he failed to win a seat. He came in 8th place out of 16 candidates who ran, which was the largest slate for a single race in Rockingham County history.
Over the next several months, Knight's commercial was screened at the American Film Institute, and was featured on The Heritage Foundation's website[6] and in many other media outlets including The Jay Leno Show, The Soup, on MTV and numerous international programming.
VH1/Viacom/YouTube copyright infringement claim
The
On August 29, 2007, YouTube notified Knight him that his video of the Web Junk 20 clip had been taken down at the insistence of VH1's parent company
Knight contended that per the Copyright Act of 1976, his uploading of the Web Junk 20 clip featuring his own commercial satisfied the four criteria for fair use. and that VH1's segment was a derivative work of his own, since the Web Junk 20 clip was based on Knight's original commercial and could not have existed without it. Viacom countered that the Web Junk 20 clip was indeed its own copyrighted material, acknowledging that although it used the commercial that Knight had produced himself, that VH1 had added Aries Spears's image and commentary. Viacom asserted that this was enough to make the entire content of the Web Junk 20 clip, including use of Knight's commercial, their own material protected under copyright.
Following guidelines on YouTube's site, Knight filed a
The incident has since been referenced in several other stories regarding YouTube and cases of possible copyright infringement, including that of the Lenz family's lawsuit against Universal[9] regarding a clip they had posted onto YouTube that included several seconds of a song by musical artist Prince.
After Viacom relented and dropped its claim, Knight asserted that he had no ill toward Viacom and asked his readers to do likewise. "This ends just as I had hoped it would: with the clip back up and, I like to think, with Viacom and me getting to shake hands and move on and wishing each other well. I'll certainly harbor no hard feelings toward Viacom for the past two weeks."[10]
Other works
In late 2010, Knight used his blog to go public about his longtime diagnosis of bipolar disorder. He has since devoted much effort toward sharing his experiences with severe depression, mania, and the treatment of his disease. As of 2023 Knight is writing a book about his life with mental illness.
Knight and his filmmaking partner Ed Woody are the founders of KWerky Productions. Knight's first film Forcery - a parody of the film adaptation of the Stephen King novel Misery - was heavily featured in the award-winning documentary The People vs. George Lucas.
Knight is a published op-ed writer who maintains that he is extremely
References
- ^ a b "Candidate Filings 2006". Rockingham County. Archived from the original on 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
Age 32 as of 8/3/2006
- ^ "Christopher Knight for School Board: Biography". Archived from the original on April 21, 2007.
- ^ YouTube and WGSR Star 39: Christopher Knight for School Board TV Commercial #1, October 2006
- ^ "The New York Times: Local Issues Mirror National Ones, but the Special Effects Occasionally Stand Alone, November 6, 2006"
- ^ "Edutopia: Best Campaign Ad Ever!" Archived 2007-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Heritage Foundation: School Board Jedi, July 9, 2007" Archived October 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Knight, Christopher. "YOUTUBE/VIACOM AFTERMATH - Part 2: The DMCA Counter-Notification Claim." The Knight Shift. September 19, 2007. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
- ^ Goel, Vindu. "Followup: Chris Knight wins battle with Viacom over YouTube clip." Vindu's View from the Valley. September 11th, 2007. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
- ^ "The Home Video Prince Doesn't Want You to See." ABC News. October 26, 2007.
- ^ "VIACOM SITUATION UPDATE: YouTube has restored my clip". www.theknightshift.com. Retrieved 2017-10-16.
Sources
- Wired: Viacom: Fair Use Is What We Say It Is, August 31, 2007
- Ars Technica: Viacom's "bass-ackwards" screw-up: issues takedown for video it "pirated", August 30, 2007
- The Register: Viacom slaps YouTuber for behaving like Viacom, August 30, 2007
- WebProNews: Small Town Man: Victim or Copyright Infringer? August 31, 2007
- CNET News.com: This time Viacom is accused of violating copyright, August 30, 2007[permanent dead link]
- vnunet.com: YouTube restores Viacom-banned VH-1 clip, September 13, 2007
- The Inquirer: YouTube restores clip downed by Viacom, September 13, 2007
- contactmusic.com: VH1 - School Board Candidate Beats Viacom, September 14, 2007
- IMDB.com Studio Briefing: School Board Candidate Beats Viacom, September 14, 2007[permanent dead link]
External links
- The Knight Shift (Christopher Knight's blog)
- Christopher Knight's YouTube channel