Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association v. SHARK [1]

YouTube.com [2] shut down the account of Showing Animals Respect And Kindness [3]("SHARK"), an animal rights activitist group, after the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association [4] ("PRCA") filed DMCA takedown notices in December 2007 regarding SHARK videos [5] that used recordings of PRCA events. The videos, which contained recordings of rodeos filmed by SHARK members, criticized the treatment of the animals involved in the rodeo.

On June 9, 2008, SHARK, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, filed a lawsuit against the PRCA in Illinois federal court asking for a declaratory judgment that the videos were not infringing and bringing claims against the PRCA by arguing that it violated section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) [6], by knowingly materially misrepresenting that the SHARK videos infringed PRCA’s copyrights and for interference with contract.

Update:

5/12/2009 - PRCA and SHARK settled the section 512(f) case.  PRCA agreed to (1) pay $25,000 to SHARK, (2) set up a private takedown system for SHARK videos outside the normal DMCA process, whereby PRCA will first send future copyright complaints directly to SHARK rather than to YouTube, and (3) not to selectively enforce a "no videotaping" stamp on its tickets against activists like SHARK.