I stumbled upon this just now...

stormkeeper

And although it happened a month ago, I found it interesting:

Spoon-Bending 'Paranormalist' Illegally Twists Copyright Law

Uri Geller Makes Bogus Copyright Claims to Silence YouTube Critic
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit Tuesday against Uri Geller -- the "paranormalist" famous for seemingly bending spoons with his mind -- on behalf of a YouTube critic who was silenced by Geller's baseless copyright claims.


EFF's client, Brian Sapient, belongs to a group called the "Rational Response Squad," which is dedicated to debunking what it calls irrational beliefs. As part of their mission, Sapient and others post videos to YouTube that they say demonstrate this irrationality. One of the videos that Sapient uploaded came from a NOVA program called "Secrets of the Psychics," which challenges the performance techniques of Geller.


Despite the fact that only three seconds of the over thirteen-minute video contain footage allegedly under copyright owned by Geller's corporation Explorogist Ltd. -- a classic fair use of the material for criticism purposes -- Geller filed a takedown demand with YouTube under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). That violates the DMCA requirement that copyright holders only send takedown notices for infringing content.


"Uri Geller may not like it when people question his paranormal abilities. However, he is not allowed to stifle public criticism by misusing the law," said EFF Staff Attorney Marcia Hoffman. "If the publication of a video does not infringe his copyright, then he cannot block its use -- it's as simple as that."


Because of Geller's unlawful DMCA notice, Sapient's YouTube account was suspended, and his videos were not available for over two weeks. In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, EFF asks for damages due to Geller's violation of the DMCA, a declaratory judgment that the NOVA video does not infringe Geller's copyrights, and that Geller be restrained from bringing any further legal action against Sapient in connection to the clip.


"We've seen a rash of people abusing the DMCA lately, attempting to take down legitimate criticism and commentary online," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "To allow thin-skinned public figures like Uri Geller to abuse this system forces critics to remain silent and creates unfair hurdles for free speech to thrive online."


This lawsuit is part of EFF's ongoing work to protect online free speech in the face of bogus copyright claims. EFF is currently working with Stanford's Fair Use Project to develop a set of "best practices" for proper DMCA takedowns. At EFF's suggestion, media giant Viacom set up an email "hotline" to help users who believe their videos have been improperly ensnared in a takedown campaign.


For the full complaint against Uri Geller and Explorogist Ltd.:
http://eff.org/legal/cases/sapient_v_geller

What do you guys think of it? I personally think it's a bit worrying to be honest.

Zillah

Which bit is a bit worrying?

WindSock

I was just thinking of him yesterday. He made our spoons bend over the telly in the eighties.

Hal1

Yeah, I remember that late late. Did your watch stop working too? Ours did

nitefox

This is a good topic ya i think he is real but if he is telling youtube to take it down and he claims to be Psychic and then these guys say he is not and they put up the flim on youtube showing how he is not and others, so if he was for real that would that worry him.

Zillah

For the record, he's been repeatidly caught cheating on his spoon bending trick, once on video. He always supplies the spoons himself (pre-bent so the metal is weak) and has gone so far as to abort his performance and refuse to continue in the middle of a TV show when he found out the spoons he was supposed to bend were different to the ones he had brought himself, he claimed he wasn't feeling "strong". Spoon Bending is a well known stage trick. Does no one find it suspicious that Uri Geller used to BE a stage MAGICIAN?

I think this might be the video in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Y7QR314xA <-- Watch carefully, at 1:20 in the video he quite clearly sticks something onto his thumb, which could easily be a magnet that would move the compass.

And heres one from Randi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

6th

Zillah wrote:

I think this might be the video in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Y7QR314xA <-- Watch carefully, at 1:20 in the video he quite clearly sticks something onto his thumb, which could easily be a magnet that would move the compass.

Ok thats all I need, Uri Geller is (in my opinion) an absolute fake.

Stoner

Zillah wrote:

I think this might be the video in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Y7QR314xA <-- Watch carefully, at 1:20 in the video he quite clearly sticks something onto his thumb, which could easily be a magnet that would move the compass.

And heres one from Randi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

Nice finds Zillah

Zillah

6th wrote:

Ok thats all I need, Uri Geller is (in my opinion) an absolute fake.

Hence he'll do anything to try and get it taken down

nitefox

Zillah wrote:

For the record, he's been repeatidly caught cheating on his spoon bending trick, once on video. He always supplies the spoons himself (pre-bent so the metal is weak) and has gone so far as to abort his performance and refuse to continue in the middle of a TV show when he found out the spoons he was supposed to bend were different to the ones he had brought himself, he claimed he wasn't feeling "strong". Spoon Bending is a well known stage trick. Does no one find it suspicious that Uri Geller used to BE a stage MAGICIAN?

I think this might be the video in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Y7QR314xA <-- Watch carefully, at 1:20 in the video he quite clearly sticks something onto his thumb, which could easily be a magnet that would move the compass.

And heres one from Randi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

Hi Zillah How are you and everybody?. I never knew that Uri Geller used to BE a stage MAGICIAN so he can get the trick spoons that MAGICIANS use and i did see the magnet so he is diffly fake my mom never belife him i kinda did belife but not now.:(