hey mojo holux I’m your host Rebecca and
in this 15th episode of WatchMojo FAQ
our CEO and executive producer ashcan
corpus crucian joins me to discuss the
origins of the WatchMojo logo and how we
handle all the rights to all of the
clips we use a mantra holics welcome to
watchmojo.com
welcome ash you sound so disappointed
welcome how are you guys okay so before
we get to this week’s questions this
week we’ve published both topics which
is Dan’s new show and WatchMojo news so
any thoughts on the first episodes yeah
sure so since this is actually being
recorded on Wednesday and topics is
going to be published later on today
we’ll just talk on watch One Show news I
thought it was fantastic we did top 10
facts just 10 facts on Isis
overwhelmingly positive feedback I love
seeing the comment from mass Oreo killer
gotta love that name as well quote I can
imagine this will become my favorite
watch module series great work and keep
up with the series end quote that was
uploaded over a hundred times I think
you know the features the the clips
where we do politics will always have
some division from the viewers but the
over arching feedback was that it was
fantastic and we should keep it up and
that’s music to our ears okay so for
today I know we want to cover a lot so
we will touch on topics next week again
like we said because it hasn’t aired yet
unless you want to use the DeLorean to
travel hence the prop anyway on to the
questions last weekend we published top
10 business logos and John Lennon who
I’m assuming is not be John Lennon um
asked but seriously what’s the history
behind the face WatchMojo which is our
logo so mr. X stepped in and said like
this comment if you want a sh to address
it so 165 people like that
so the Mojo holics obviously want to
know what is the history behind the
WatchMojo face so a few weeks ago we
touched about the origins of the name
you could click on the end
or link below to get the feedback on
that so today we’ll talk about the logo
so basically picture it it’s 2005 I was
working at a company got acquired it was
time for me to leave as it happens and I
wanted to start a new company and
basically prove myself so the idea of
the smiley face was kind of to connote
I’ll get the last laugh he who laughs
last laughs best and just sort of like
proving people wrong and that’s actually
why side note when WatchMojo launched
the tagline initially was just watch it
had that kind of double connotation
anyway so when I was going over the site
design and whatnot and I wrote out the
Mojo part of the name I kind of sat and
look the O’s in the J could be a face
you just put a squiggly line underneath
the initial inspiration I won’t lie was
more sinister you know not evil but kind
of mischievous smile I remember college
humor back in the day used to have a
logo of a joker so yeah it was meant to
be a bit more comic book character asked
but then when the designer came back he
made it a lot more comical and jovial
and cute ish and I liked it I was like
it’s fine you know I didn’t want to
change it to too much since then and he
also chose the colors I would probably
gone with more black grey and a dark
blue but it’s stuck and it’s funny
because since then if that logo I mean
we joked by putting it as like I guess a
fake number one on that list but that
logo has been seen as of this week two
billion times on YouTube only 40
channels have hit that milestone if you
count everywhere else where we published
like Yahoo MSN Hulu and other places
it’s been seen over three and a half
billion times and if you count places
like malls gyms cabs airports it’s
probably been been seen over 10 billion
times altogether which does make that
logo one of the most seem logos of the
last you know a few years that is come
up that is crazy in the same video user
– forretress for us how does mojo never
get in trouble for showing movie scenes
or other copyrighted content like logos
so what gives okay so that is indeed a
very common question
and the truth is I don’t think most
channels would ever touch on it it would
be like the elephant in the room but
we’re not like that so I have a prop to
which I’ll get to in a second so our
editorial guideline really falls under
three things one is explicit permission
the other one is implicit approval and
the third one is reluctant acceptance
what what am I talking about so
basically copyright law works two ways
it protects companies who create
original content but it also gives a set
of liberties and freedoms and rights to
companies that then want to take
portions of that and create new works so
in a very strict legal sense yes as some
of you in the comments have stated
copyright law and fair use law or fair
dealing in Canada and the UK give us
such protections but that’s just a
defense the real true reason why we’ve
been able to do what we do goes down
boils down to relationships when we
launched in 2006 nobody knew us and then
in 2007 and 8 as we got bigger we had
record labels TV networks of movie
studios and video game publishers that
would come out to us and back in the day
this is how long we’ve been in existence
they would send us media and beg us to
feature it in our videos okay my inbox
no joke has over a hundred gigs why
because we got all these digital files
now by all these rights holders who beg
us to create these new videos so today
we work with advertising teams and PR
departments to create these videos but
it all boils down to the relationships
we have and most of these thankfully
most of these rights holders have gone
on record to tell us that they support
what we do they love what we do now
there is occasionally a random employee
in a given like legal department who may
object and not know that we have these
relationships and they’ll send us say a
note saying hey why are you doing this
and that’s because they may not know how
one copyright law works but more
importantly we’re like hey Joe you might
want to speak to Shelly in marketing and
promotions because they’re begging us to
do it and then it all ends there and we
all love and we hug it out and good
times ensues it’s also worth noting with
a nice bottle of 1946
chateauneuf-du-pape out
well anyway it’s also worth noting that
those very same clips and up on the
sites of these big media companies yeah
that’s actually a fantastic point so to
take it even one step further when we do
top 10 Simpsons episodes it’s really
funny because we get people from Hulu
which is on partially by News Corp fox
they’ll email us saying we love this
we’re gonna feature it because we have a
partnership with them or if we do top 10
Batman
scenes guess what that’s a WB franchise
and we’re featured on Roadrunner the
portal which belongs to Time Warner
which owns WB so you know I know when
someone lands on the channel they may
not know that background in context but
you know we are a big big media company
now that plays by the books where we
always err on the right side of the
legal fence so to speak but to be clear
you are not a lawyer no so this is not
legal advice but I mean I’ll just say
that it’s worth noting that generally
speaking and I respect all lawyers they
get a bad rep ultimately it’s always the
clients fault when a lawyer has to do
bad things but I will say that contract
business lawyers are not necessarily as
well-versed in copyright as they maybe
should be and then conversely a
copyright lawyer is not necessarily well
versed in practical day-to-day
applications they’re just really good at
the theory so in between that you kind
of you know get a good sense of what you
can do or should do again that Chris
Rock expression just because you could
drive with your feet doesn’t mean you
should so yeah I’ve researched fair use
have written about it forever but you
know after 8,000 Clips we’ve had maybe a
handful of incidences where we you know
talks got heated and we’ve always
prevailed mainly because we use common
sense and ironically the only time watch
won’t roll was ever sued wasn’t even for
this it’s when that going back to the
first question we answered when I left
to start WatchMojo my previous employer
felt that I was violating our
non-competition we went to court and we
rolled the dice and said we’re not going
to hire a lawyer for various reasons
wrapped ourselves and we destroyed them
just goes to show that sometimes being a
lawyer isn’t a good thing but we’re all
cool down we all get a lot of heart
though I imagine no as I say when I
started the company I had hair like
Fabio and that changes very quickly
alrighty then so that’s all for this
week and next week we will touch on Dan
Show topics and discuss some of the
end-of-year
in series that we’re planning so make
sure to tune in and tell us what you
want to see can I flip this like I
flipped paper what’s so annoying this
that’s all for this week thanks for
watching and if you like epic use tune
into me and Dan on what’s your mojo
tomorrow
in this 15th episode of WatchMojo FAQ
our CEO and executive producer ashcan
corpus crucian joins me to discuss the
origins of the WatchMojo logo and how we
handle all the rights to all of the
clips we use a mantra holics welcome to
watchmojo.com
welcome ash you sound so disappointed
welcome how are you guys okay so before
we get to this week’s questions this
week we’ve published both topics which
is Dan’s new show and WatchMojo news so
any thoughts on the first episodes yeah
sure so since this is actually being
recorded on Wednesday and topics is
going to be published later on today
we’ll just talk on watch One Show news I
thought it was fantastic we did top 10
facts just 10 facts on Isis
overwhelmingly positive feedback I love
seeing the comment from mass Oreo killer
gotta love that name as well quote I can
imagine this will become my favorite
watch module series great work and keep
up with the series end quote that was
uploaded over a hundred times I think
you know the features the the clips
where we do politics will always have
some division from the viewers but the
over arching feedback was that it was
fantastic and we should keep it up and
that’s music to our ears okay so for
today I know we want to cover a lot so
we will touch on topics next week again
like we said because it hasn’t aired yet
unless you want to use the DeLorean to
travel hence the prop anyway on to the
questions last weekend we published top
10 business logos and John Lennon who
I’m assuming is not be John Lennon um
asked but seriously what’s the history
behind the face WatchMojo which is our
logo so mr. X stepped in and said like
this comment if you want a sh to address
it so 165 people like that
so the Mojo holics obviously want to
know what is the history behind the
WatchMojo face so a few weeks ago we
touched about the origins of the name
you could click on the end
or link below to get the feedback on
that so today we’ll talk about the logo
so basically picture it it’s 2005 I was
working at a company got acquired it was
time for me to leave as it happens and I
wanted to start a new company and
basically prove myself so the idea of
the smiley face was kind of to connote
I’ll get the last laugh he who laughs
last laughs best and just sort of like
proving people wrong and that’s actually
why side note when WatchMojo launched
the tagline initially was just watch it
had that kind of double connotation
anyway so when I was going over the site
design and whatnot and I wrote out the
Mojo part of the name I kind of sat and
look the O’s in the J could be a face
you just put a squiggly line underneath
the initial inspiration I won’t lie was
more sinister you know not evil but kind
of mischievous smile I remember college
humor back in the day used to have a
logo of a joker so yeah it was meant to
be a bit more comic book character asked
but then when the designer came back he
made it a lot more comical and jovial
and cute ish and I liked it I was like
it’s fine you know I didn’t want to
change it to too much since then and he
also chose the colors I would probably
gone with more black grey and a dark
blue but it’s stuck and it’s funny
because since then if that logo I mean
we joked by putting it as like I guess a
fake number one on that list but that
logo has been seen as of this week two
billion times on YouTube only 40
channels have hit that milestone if you
count everywhere else where we published
like Yahoo MSN Hulu and other places
it’s been seen over three and a half
billion times and if you count places
like malls gyms cabs airports it’s
probably been been seen over 10 billion
times altogether which does make that
logo one of the most seem logos of the
last you know a few years that is come
up that is crazy in the same video user
– forretress for us how does mojo never
get in trouble for showing movie scenes
or other copyrighted content like logos
so what gives okay so that is indeed a
very common question
and the truth is I don’t think most
channels would ever touch on it it would
be like the elephant in the room but
we’re not like that so I have a prop to
which I’ll get to in a second so our
editorial guideline really falls under
three things one is explicit permission
the other one is implicit approval and
the third one is reluctant acceptance
what what am I talking about so
basically copyright law works two ways
it protects companies who create
original content but it also gives a set
of liberties and freedoms and rights to
companies that then want to take
portions of that and create new works so
in a very strict legal sense yes as some
of you in the comments have stated
copyright law and fair use law or fair
dealing in Canada and the UK give us
such protections but that’s just a
defense the real true reason why we’ve
been able to do what we do goes down
boils down to relationships when we
launched in 2006 nobody knew us and then
in 2007 and 8 as we got bigger we had
record labels TV networks of movie
studios and video game publishers that
would come out to us and back in the day
this is how long we’ve been in existence
they would send us media and beg us to
feature it in our videos okay my inbox
no joke has over a hundred gigs why
because we got all these digital files
now by all these rights holders who beg
us to create these new videos so today
we work with advertising teams and PR
departments to create these videos but
it all boils down to the relationships
we have and most of these thankfully
most of these rights holders have gone
on record to tell us that they support
what we do they love what we do now
there is occasionally a random employee
in a given like legal department who may
object and not know that we have these
relationships and they’ll send us say a
note saying hey why are you doing this
and that’s because they may not know how
one copyright law works but more
importantly we’re like hey Joe you might
want to speak to Shelly in marketing and
promotions because they’re begging us to
do it and then it all ends there and we
all love and we hug it out and good
times ensues it’s also worth noting with
a nice bottle of 1946
chateauneuf-du-pape out
well anyway it’s also worth noting that
those very same clips and up on the
sites of these big media companies yeah
that’s actually a fantastic point so to
take it even one step further when we do
top 10 Simpsons episodes it’s really
funny because we get people from Hulu
which is on partially by News Corp fox
they’ll email us saying we love this
we’re gonna feature it because we have a
partnership with them or if we do top 10
Batman
scenes guess what that’s a WB franchise
and we’re featured on Roadrunner the
portal which belongs to Time Warner
which owns WB so you know I know when
someone lands on the channel they may
not know that background in context but
you know we are a big big media company
now that plays by the books where we
always err on the right side of the
legal fence so to speak but to be clear
you are not a lawyer no so this is not
legal advice but I mean I’ll just say
that it’s worth noting that generally
speaking and I respect all lawyers they
get a bad rep ultimately it’s always the
clients fault when a lawyer has to do
bad things but I will say that contract
business lawyers are not necessarily as
well-versed in copyright as they maybe
should be and then conversely a
copyright lawyer is not necessarily well
versed in practical day-to-day
applications they’re just really good at
the theory so in between that you kind
of you know get a good sense of what you
can do or should do again that Chris
Rock expression just because you could
drive with your feet doesn’t mean you
should so yeah I’ve researched fair use
have written about it forever but you
know after 8,000 Clips we’ve had maybe a
handful of incidences where we you know
talks got heated and we’ve always
prevailed mainly because we use common
sense and ironically the only time watch
won’t roll was ever sued wasn’t even for
this it’s when that going back to the
first question we answered when I left
to start WatchMojo my previous employer
felt that I was violating our
non-competition we went to court and we
rolled the dice and said we’re not going
to hire a lawyer for various reasons
wrapped ourselves and we destroyed them
just goes to show that sometimes being a
lawyer isn’t a good thing but we’re all
cool down we all get a lot of heart
though I imagine no as I say when I
started the company I had hair like
Fabio and that changes very quickly
alrighty then so that’s all for this
week and next week we will touch on Dan
Show topics and discuss some of the
end-of-year
in series that we’re planning so make
sure to tune in and tell us what you
want to see can I flip this like I
flipped paper what’s so annoying this
that’s all for this week thanks for
watching and if you like epic use tune
into me and Dan on what’s your mojo
tomorrow
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