Now FOM bans amateur video of Kubica crash

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Formula One Management continue to go after all footage of the Robert Kubica crash being shown online – including video shot by fans at the track.

Unofficial video of Robert Kubica’s 180mph smash has been removed from YouTube and other F1 sites at the request of FOM and NetResult, a sports rights management company.

FOM has the legal right to remove such footage because of disclaimers printed on F1 tickets that read:

The use of this ticket shall constitute for the holder an undertaking to not transmit, broadcast, or to aid anyone in doing so, any description, account, picture or reproduction the event, its elements, participants or surroundings.

This of course means that anyone who goes to a Grand Prix, takes a photograph of it, and put sit on their web site, is breaking the law.

Thankfully prosecuting that law seems to be too onerous and futile a task even for FOM.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Now FOM bans amateur video of Kubica crash”

  1. Its pretty funny when you can find more information on Anti-Communist parties of China from within China then you can find video of Kubica’s accident. I would like to hear his view on this censorship. I was HIS accident wasn’t it?

    Whats next is Be—- E*******ne going to start cen*or*ng all of our p_sts on the inter__t about the K***ca c***sh?!?!

  2. the important question i think is – why have FOM suddenly come down *so* hard on footage of this crash, when F1 footage featuring fatal accidents are still available on YouTube?

    is there something in there we’re not meant to see? something FOM have done wrong maybe. some safety measure that was overlooked in Canada? what are they trying to hide?

    seems a very, very odd change in attitude all of a sudden.

  3. I suspect it’s because most of the fatal crashes were pre-1981, before which FOM do not own copyright on the video footage.

    But also the modern footage will get a lot more views and that will have something to do with it.

  4. The FOM really have lost the plot over the whole Kubica crash. The crash was horrible but how Kubica only suffered a sprained ankle shows the incredible safety in modern F1 cars, and the FOM don’t want to show how safe F1 is at the moment. Weird!

  5. Robert McKay
    15th June 2007, 22:46

    FOM get very antsy over any sort of crash. I’m sure I remember an interview with Geoff Crammond (who made the unsurpassed Grand Prix games on the PC) when he alluded to the fact they were immensely strict on what he could and couldn’t do regarding crashes in F1 games. Slightly control freakish, if you ask me.

  6. Some people like to throw their weight around just because they can…

  7. Amateur video banned by FOM…

    The FOM has now banned the amateur video taken of Robert Kubica’s crash. I think that the FOM is taking all of this “censorship” far too far. You’d think that they’d have more important things to worry about than a small v…

  8. I wonder (or perhaps it’s just hope) if FOM or the FIA are planning some form of “official” online archive of video footage, and in order that people visit this rather than YouTube they are asking for the removal of footage from these sites.

    Like I say, I’d hope this is the reason – otherwise I’ll be expecting a knock on the door any day now as they come to delete the race from my Sky+ box…

  9. There were questions on last year’s FIA survey (BTW where’s this year’s?) about internet coverage they could try to sell, but the mixed response probably explains why they’re not selling video footage now, and probably won’t for a while yet.

    I think this is just the FOM trying to secure its intellectual property rights. However, it won’t work in the long run, just as banning P2P music didn’t work. The FOM should try putting up that archive you suggested, craigblog.co.uk, if only because in the age of the internet it represents a better way of securing IPR.

  10. Due to family commitments and work, I missed the enthralling Canadian GP and associated highlights programmes(after watching every other race this season!) I don’t own a VCR (who does these days?) or a dvd recorder as most TV is rubbish.

    So I was gutted when I missed such a good race, but managed to watch the Kubica incident on Youtube before FOM removed it.

    Whta harm does Youtube do? Surely it promotes F1? By the time an official highlights dvd of the year comes around, it won’t be at the forefront of people’s minds anymore?

    Why don’t FOM make video clips available on their website ‘On Demand’ like Channel 4 do? I’d be happy to pay a few quid to be able to watch the race again? (Or am I missing something?)

  11. in 2011, I seen that FOM did not block videos that people record the podium of Australian Grand Prix at the circuit and videos that capture on camera from TV broadcast but FOM still block some of official race edit from the Formula1.com, the official website of F1

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