Submitted via IRC for AnonymousLuser
Lenovo stole a fan's video to promote the foldable Motorola RAZR
Yesterday, Lenovo shared a promotional video for the rumored foldable Motorola RAZR. While the 30-second teaser was shared with members of the media during a group interview and was accompanied by the Lenovo logo, it appears that the company used video from a fan and branded it as its own. The footage that was played by Lenovo was actually spliced together from a render created by tech YouTuber Waqar Khan. According to Khan, he didn't give Lenovo permission to use the concept images that he created. Engadget has reached out to Lenovo and Motorola regarding the video and will update this story if we hear back.
The clip Lenovo showed to the press yesterday appears to be cut together from a number of renders that was first seen in a video titled "Motorola RAZR 2019 - Introduction & First Look!" that was uploaded to by Khan to YouTube on February 9th of this year. Many of the images in Lenovo's video are identical to those that appear in Khan's, and it even looks like Khan's Twitter handle watermark is still present in the footage shared by Lenovo. However, Lenovo's video ends with the company's logo, making it look like an official product.
Despite Lenovo's branding appearing on the footage, Khan confirmed that he was not approached by the company regarding the renders. "They used it without my permission," he told Engadget via direct message on Twitter. "I don't know what's going [on], man."
(Score: 3, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 21 2019, @01:51PM (5 children)
They have the class you might expect of an earthworm.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 21 2019, @01:57PM
Don't knock the earthworm [indiegogo.com].
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Tuesday May 21 2019, @03:54PM
If you want class keep the smartphone in your pocket and flip the original [amazon.com] instead.
My apologies to your wife.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 21 2019, @06:44PM
That's a rather high bar for you to live up to. Good luck with that.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday May 21 2019, @08:00PM
Uhh, moderated you underrated to balance out the troll mod. Would've put something else, but honestly, that comment makes no sense. The only earthworm I know of is Jim, and he's actually a pretty cool guy...
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 21 2019, @08:17PM
While I could see this being a troll of Earthworm Jim, it would have actually been funny. Marking the comment as a Troll, while possibly technically correct, is unjustified, if Lenovo misappropriated the content. "You wouldn't steal a car . . ." Guess, we know Lenovo's stance on that.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday May 21 2019, @02:05PM (12 children)
My first guess is that there was some kind of agreement that Mr. Khan had to sign in order to gain early access to the equipment. And I'll bet in there one could find some phrase like, "anything you produce publicly as a result of receiving this demo model we can use for promotional purposes without compensation." Like many places with fine print that by using a company's services they have the right to use your likeness and name in company promotion.
Now for the real test, am I interested enough to actually go find out? Nope, because Lenovo would be stupid to not have had such conditions in place before using it. And while they could be stupid (they trashed hell out more than one good product line), I think they're lawyer-savvy enough to have covered their bases. Although I have personally witnessed a case in a different field (astronomy) where something very similar did indeed happen with an unauthorized use of a customer image - the company in question simply pulled the ad from appearing again and the originator wasn't compensated and made no legal case of it.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 4, Informative) by JNCF on Tuesday May 21 2019, @04:50PM (9 children)
Seems you're wrong about how he acquired the info about the equipment, it's all in the notes on the YouTube video where he says the render is based on these schematics. [wipo.int] Good thing Lenovo doesn't care about intellectual property and we can all start releasing Lenovo branded products without fear of legal repercussions.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday May 21 2019, @10:40PM (8 children)
OK, I'm wrong then. I still have the minutes of my life spent not wasted by tracking it down.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Touché) by JNCF on Wednesday May 22 2019, @12:20AM (7 children)
How much time did you waste writing uninformed drivel that contributed nothing to anything? Personally, I could have tracked down the info faster (and in less than two minutes).
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday May 22 2019, @02:49PM (6 children)
Good for you! I hereby give you a Brownie button. Feel better?
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Wednesday May 22 2019, @03:50PM (5 children)
Nah man, that square brownie button doesn't fit into the circular void in my heart. I think something else is supposed to go here... maybe Gawd's love, or internet discourse where people admit that they're wrong without feeling smug about not having done due diligence before posting? I couldn't tell you, but it's leaking out on my shirt; I'm gonna have a doctor check this out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 22 2019, @10:32PM (4 children)
That is truly a problem, and I wish I could repair that for you. However, having one's words labeled as drivel as a first response does make it kind of hard to reach a level of any compassion, or people feeling superior that they indeed tracked down the facts of a story that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of anything whatsoever. You might not have had anything leak from your shirt at all had you simply said, "I think you're wrong about that because of the facts.... etc." And I could have said, "Crap, you're right and I was indeed wrong, sorry and thanks for noticing because I'll take that knowledge with me next time." But instead you decided to use your quickly discovered facts to fire a shot at me as well. So you get an admission I was wrong and that's about it. Enjoy it.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Wednesday May 22 2019, @11:15PM (3 children)
Are you also lawn-guy, AC? If so, it was my second response when I called your words "drivel." I think my first response was pretty polite, and I felt like your response to my first response was absurd in the way it boasted of not having spent time looking up the facts before posting. In that context, I don't regret labeling the original post "drivel." I wish you the best, and hope that you're actually thankful when others correct you in the future rather than acting like it's a waste of time -- ideally, you might even stop to correct yourself before posting. A lot to ask of Soylentils, I know!
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Wednesday May 22 2019, @11:24PM
I'll add: I don't mean to ask if you're the same user as lawn-guy as an accusation of sock-puppetry, it's just that the first person phrasing of that post confused me and I thought it may have been an accidental AC post. The tone doesn't seem to match.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday May 23 2019, @03:53PM (1 child)
First, apologies, yes that was me. Dunno why I'm AC there (or rather why I must have clicked the sqaure).
All right, you also have an unreserved apology whether you need or want it it is yours. I was inappropriately callous to you and dismissive of your effort.
For what it's worth, which shouldn't be anything to you and it's no excuse, I think I first saw and responded to EdIII's post first where he accuses me of being a corporate apologist and that probably slopped over to you. I still don't think there's anything wrong with occasionally not reading TFA's and not spending time researching something that isn't greatly important, but that shouldn't excuse my tone to you.
May our next encounter be more pleasant. Thank you for representing the facts and taking the time to correct my misapprehensions about both the story and my attitude.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday May 23 2019, @08:06PM
I appreciate your openness! I'm not claiming I've never posted without reading TFA, BTW :P
Agreed!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday May 21 2019, @08:11PM (1 child)
Yeah, those are baseless assumptions that sound like they're right out of the mouth of a corporate apologist. You admitted you would never investigate, but still free to push out assumptions?
Don't underestimate the stupidity and/or malice of powerful corporations. A lawyer for DuPont is literally on record saying they should probably continue poisoning a family with dumped chemicals rather than come clean with the same logic of a teenager returning at 6 am instead of 2am; Damage done. Lawyers can be shitty and rely on strength over legal correctness. In other words they're not afraid to take advantage of the power imbalance and system that does exist, rather than stick to strict ethical and legal principles. It's only been recently that people have the ability to take a story viral without the aid of MSM, and present their cases to the public at large.
This sounds like something that moved forward with miscommunication, and somebody dropped the ball at defining all the media being used and where it came from. The TFS says the Lenovo logo was placed over it, and you had to look carefully to see his watermark. I'm willing to believe this one skipped pass the people responsible for clearing it, and I'm more than willing to believe some newbie created something by pulling whatever he/she could from the web.
I've seen both situations play out more than once myself.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday May 21 2019, @10:42PM
Yes, I am willing to voice opinions without reading TFA, which I was careful to qualify as such, and I also mentioned that I was aware of exceptions in other industries where such stupidity happened.
What I was saying, if you reread, is that I would have thought that Lenovo would have been more careful. So I was wrong.
So what?
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 21 2019, @02:28PM (1 child)
Sure you don’t want spam but you don’t want to miss genuine stuff either. If you don’t have a contact page on your website and rely on gmail, note that gmail is doing its job and sending lots of stuff to the spam folder.
So many times I’ve found the only way to contact someone is to publicly tweet @them
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 21 2019, @09:40PM
While that is true, this is still copyright violation by a mega corp.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 21 2019, @02:38PM (1 child)
under the original TPP
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 21 2019, @03:25PM
It's only criminal when small people do it.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Tuesday May 21 2019, @03:38PM (3 children)
What happened to honor among thieves? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxfI6-ZltWk [youtube.com]
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(Score: 2) by JNCF on Tuesday May 21 2019, @04:58PM (2 children)
What's GoT got to do with this? Being ignorant of the media I thought maybe the music, but he properly attributes that and it's free to use.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday May 22 2019, @08:01AM (1 child)
Just because a third party is willing to take the legal risk, transform the key and invert a few notes for you doesn't make it fine. Listen to the whole thing and decide for yourself.
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(Score: 2) by JNCF on Wednesday May 22 2019, @04:13PM
No, assuming legitimate ignorance that totally makes it fine (even if you believe in IP). I can't be expected to watch every show and listen to every piece of music ever composed. If somebody releases music that they claim as their own and allow me to repurpose, I don't have to check it against all other music to see how similar it is. That would be an unreasonable burden.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 22 2019, @05:10PM