Reaction video deemed fair use in YouTuber court battle

Ethan and Hila Klein explaining their legal win.

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."

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