Mend it Mark gets suspect copyright strike for £25k audio amp repair

Per the article, it is unclear what was copyrighted. It’s possible that YouTube knows but is not making it public, or maybe even YouTube doesn’t know. I definitely feel that YouTube’s handling of copyright issues is annoying, I feel like the creator should be told what YouTube knows. But that’s not an issue with copyright itself.

It's not DMCA so you don't even have the right to counter-file. And of course since it's Google there's no one you can call or email to get real help unless you're a super popular channel with an assigned rep.

> “IP is any law that I can invoke that allows me to control the conduct of my competitors, critics, and customers.”

> That is, in a world of uncertainty, where other people’s unpredictability can erode your profits, mire you in scandal, or even tank your business, “IP” is a means of forcing other people to arrange their affairs to suit your needs, even if that undermines their own needs.

-- Cory Doctorow, IP (Locus, Sep 2020), https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

Instead of the original intention which was to grant the right to copy.

Copyright should be energising capitalism, not killing it. But yet here are!

Are the kids wrong?

Unless they dream of becoming a content creator or a vlogger, in which case they'll describe it as a Law of God, protecting the tiny Content Creators from the evil sinners who Steal and Plagiarize, and that occasionally gets abused by the corporate lords we all sharecrop for.

This has basically always been the case and is what copyright is, by design, for.

Edit: I'm now seeding https://archive.org/details/the-gbp-25-000-pre-amp-that-went... Enjoy your Streisand Effect.

Google/YouTube/Alphabet should be doing everything they can to encourage high-quality educational content like this, rather than being party to suppressing it.

https://archive.org/download/the-gbp-25-000-pre-amp-that-wen...

Shazam says it's Khruangbin - People Everywhere (Still Alive)

How is this even legal? It's not like the metal box doesn't do anything at all.

The SHAKTI Electromagnetic Stabilizer (aka “the Stone”) has three internal trap circuits (Microwave, RF and Electric Field) to absorb the broadest spectrum of EMI. Placement on automotive CPUs has measurably increased engine horsepower.

It also improves resolution for virtually all-major components in high definition audio/video systems. Music reproduction is clearer, with more liquidity, dynamics and focus. The improved inter-transient silence allows the listener to hear ambient cue information essential for accurate perception of stage depth, width and unwavering imaging. High quality video systems will benefit from SHAKTI devices near power supplies, projection guns and laser disc/DVD players. Reduced color noise and improved convergence alignment are some of the improvements that can occur. In automotive applications, where space allows, the unit should be securely taped and/or cable tied to the top of the CPU.

"dampens the "micro vibrations created by volume pots and knobs that find their way into the signal path and cause degradation.

"With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear…way better sound!!"

Source: https://bobbyowsinski.blogspot.com/2012/05/485-volume-knob.h...

I wonder sometimes if humans just have an innate need for magical thinking and if we eliminate it from most areas of our life it just finds some other place to pop up. If that hypothesis is true, then audiophile gear is a net positive: it's an almost entirely harmless place to indulge in nonsense magical thinking with no harm to anything but your pocketbook.

I'd rather people spend $1000 on HDMI cables than trying to use homeopathic medicine to cure their cancer or taking away rights from people because it goes against an ancient fiction book they really like.

https://youtu.be/pjrcB2qMbYU?si=sc9V6v27S2wyvBMj

And my own experience working on the design of complex projects as an architect. A good job will still include stupid mistakes when designing a one-off project because there are always gaps in institutional knowledge and time and money constraints.

$25k is a lot of money to spend on home audio. It is not much income even for a side project. Never mind a manufacturing business with engineering and advertising overhead in addition to logistical and fabrication costs...and I think the devices in the video are manufactured in limited annual numbers so there's not even an economics of scale.

I love Mark's channel, but videos that embarrass non-celebrity individuals is not why. Youtube drama doesn't seem to be his strong suit, and while what happened isn't justified, it is not terribly surprising now that I've thought about it.

Anyway, it might have been someone who bought one of those amplifiers who filed the takedown. Because owners were also likely to be embarrassed by the video and also likely to have the wherewithal to file a takedown.

Edit: This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxkuOzvHToc

Which he prepared for the client in decent presentation quality.

One of the most admirable things to do, above and beyond most repair professionals, looks like Mark really is a cut above and it shows.

The top instrument companies have always recognized the advantage of partnering with the rare individual who can service their complex and unique products, and have been the most willing to provide schematics and discounted parts in order to make as many into authorized service centers as possible. To enable field calibration and service, or bench work without having to send their own people or ship the unit back to the main repair depot.

The lesser outfits, not so much.

If you've got money-making instruments to sell, you really don't want to work against someone who has the talent to fix defects without even having any factory documentation. That's hard to come by, they could be your best ally. Imagine what could happen with full factory support.

And Mark prepared his own documentation! How much more respectable can you get?

Posting it on Youtube is the only real mistake, unfortunate but true.

Obviously, Youtube is not a respectable enough place, oh well, who knew?

From the commentary it does look like the circuits are not more innovative than the "generic" guidelines published by the component manufacturers to encourage engineers to adopt their semiconductors for various intended purposes.

When these analog devices were first emerging, some of these data sheets were widely published back when some of the example circuits were still under patent. There was every expectation that if you copied one of them, you would have to license it before you could legitimately include it with your own product. For these preamp components, patents have all expired now so that's not a consideration any more. However it's possible that somebody 30 or 40 years ago might have drawn up a PCB of a completely generic circuit that exactly conforms to an example public-domain schematic, no longer under patent by decades, but that pattern on the PCB could easily still be under copyright for decades to come.

You create your own original artwork, you own it, even if the circuit is exactly the same.

Thus I would say the patterns on the PCBs are only legitimate to reproduce in much less than their entirety, like passages from a book. That could be a pitfall, but I don't think more than a few relevant excerpts were casually shown in the video.