After more than a year of battling in court, Ethan and Hila Klein, the YouTubers behind the H3H3 Productions channel, won a lawsuit filed against them by another YouTuber. Matt "Hoss" Hosseinzadeh—MattHossZone on YouTube—sued the pair after they uploaded a video in which the Kleins react to one of Hosseinzadeh's videos and criticize him in the process. Hosseinzadeh then sued the Kleins for a number of things, most notably copyright infringement for using clips of his video in their own.

The Kleins defended their video, stating the use of clips of Hosseinzadeh's video in theirs falls under fair use. New York Judge Katherine B. Forrest agreed and issued her ruling yesterday in favor of the Kleins, stating their video provides "critical commentary" on Hosseinzadeh's video and is not a substitute for it.

"Any review of the Klein video leaves no doubt that it constitutes critical commentary of the Hoss video," Forrest's decision reads. "There is also no doubt that the Klein video is decidedly not a market substitute for the Hoss video. For these and the other reasons set forth below, defendants’ use of clips from the Hoss video constitutes fair use as a matter of law."

Hosseinzadeh sued the Kleins for misrepresentation and defamation as well, and the court ruled in favor of the Kleins in both of those claims. In April 2016, Hosseinzadeh submitted a DMCA takedown notification to YouTube for the Klein's video, and YouTube obliged by removing the video from its site that same day. The Kleins then filed a DMCA counter notification citing fair use, which Hosseinzadeh said was a case of misrepresentation. Due to the copyright ruling in the Kleins' favor, the misrepresentation claims were dismissed. The court also dismissed Hosseinzadeh's allegations of defamation, stating the Kleins' video is "replete with 'non-actionable opinion(s).'"

When the Kleins first revealed they were being sued, they saw an outpouring of support from fellow YouTubers and the YouTube community. YouTuber Philip DeFranco started a GoFundMe account to help pay for the Kleins' legal fees, and it raised more than $170,000. The Kleins posted a video last night explaining the ruling and expressing their happiness that fair use prevailed on YouTube.

Reaction videos aren’t created equal

But it's important to note that the victory doesn't apply to all types of "reaction" videos. The court's ruling essentially places reaction videos into two categories: those that edit-in clips of copyrighted content with clips of individuals reacting, commenting, and providing criticism and those that look like "viewing sessions" with no commentary.

"The Klein video is arguably part of a large genre of YouTube videos commonly known as 'reaction videos,'" the ruling says. "Videos within this genre vary widely in terms of purpose, structure, and the extent to which they rely on potentially copyrighted material. Some reaction videos, like the Klein video, intersperse short segments of another’s work with criticism and commentary, while others are more akin to a group viewing session without commentary. Accordingly, the Court is not ruling here that all 'reaction videos' constitute fair use."

In their explanation video, Ethan Klein calls this a "great distinction," as it protects channels like H3H3 Productions and similar channels like React, from The Fine Brothers, who post reaction videos featuring copyrighted material and commentary from multiple people. Videos that simply show a group of people watching the same video, with laughs or emotional interjections throughout, may not fall under fair use. Reaction videos are incredibly popular and have been for many years, but the quality of each video varies. Even if this decision only came out of one court, the District Court for the Southern District of New York, it's being seen as a win for YouTubers and online creators who want to use copyrighted material in transformative ways in their own content.

Listing image by YouTube, H3H3 Productions