Lawyers Force Doug Polk to Remove Videos

Doug Polk has become a wide-reaching presence on the Internet over the past eight months or so.

Producing a couple hundred YouTube videos, appearing in podcasts, and launching the training site Upswing Poker have turned 'WCGRider' from a well-respected winning poker player into, one might say, a promoter of the game.

He has done much to spread poker-related content and information to the masses, reaching over 68,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. Those followers, and others who have not hit the subscribe button, have viewed Polk's videos more than 11 million times.

It's Mental, I Must Say

Whether or not you're a fan of Polk and his hair style reminiscent of Martin Short's 'Ed Grimley' character minus the hair gel, you have to admit that he is attracting people to the game of poker.

But is he ripping off the content of others in doing so?

The legal minds at the Game Show Network (GSN) seem to think so, and they have forced Polk to remove 17 videos from his YouTube library. As the producers of "High Stakes Poker," GSN has ordered the Upswing Poker co-founder to cease and desist with regard to his "Poker Hands" videos in which he uses footage from the program.

Fair Use

This matter may end up being determined by a judge and a long, dragged-out legal fight is not out of the question. Polk feels he is "firmly in the right in this issue" and a look at the fair use doctrine as spelled out on a government website appears to bear that out.

Fair use calls for freedom of expression in using works protected by copyright when commenting, criticizing, teaching, or reporting news that involve those works. In order to be construed as fair, the use has to fall under the category of “transformative” in which something new is added that promotes a further purpose without substituting for the original content.

Of course, one could argue that Polk does exactly that when he breaks down various televised hands, commenting, sometimes criticizing, and EDUCATING others on the best ways to play particular hands. Also, he does so without using the entire broadcast of the show, with quantity being another factor considered when applying fair use doctrine.

When it Started

There is a bit of a backstory to this issue in that just a few days ago Daniel Negreanu was cited for copyright infringement in the UK for a portion of his YouTube content and saw some videos blocked. Polk dutifully reported on the infraction in a YouTube video.

Prior to that in mid-February, Negreanu took to Twitter and asked his followers for suggestions on hands to break down, but reminded fans not to choose WSOP or High Stakes Poker content for legal reasons. KidPoker tweeted that he had inquired about using footage from those broadcasts and was denied.

Polk apparently made no such inquiries, relying instead on his belief that his analysis of poker hands was providing viewers with new content that was permitted under fair use and freedom of expression. A reasonable assumption, one could say, considering the educational and sometimes comedic value produced.

In the long run, the legal fight over fair use pertaining to High Stakes Poker videos may not be a battle worth fighting for Polk. The show had a limited run and Polk stated that "at some point, these (exciting and worthy of analysis) hands are going to run out anyway" and that he will have no trouble finding other suitable content for his growing viewership.