Narrator: Even though YouTube is a free video sharing site, you can still get into serious trouble for copyright infringement.
YouTube Copyright School
is an educational YouTube short set in the Happy Tree Friends universe, uploaded on March 24, 2011. Since the introduction of this video, users who violate YouTube's rules regarding copyright are required to watch it and answer questions from that.
Russell the pirate, representing the offender, gets into serious trouble for using a video camera on his cellphone to video capture a new video of "Lumpy and the Lumpettes". And he ends up getting punished on YouTube. The instructor lectures Russell on the rules about the law of copyright. Lumpy the moose, of course, represents the victim of copyright violation.
Curiously, unlike "YouTube 101: Subscriptions" (also a YouTube collaboration short), this short was given a surprise release with no fanfare at all, not even from the official Happy Tree Friends staff (no dedicated blog for it on the official website).
"YouTube Copyright School" provides examples of:
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Lumpy's antlers' different directions, as usual, like in the original show. This slip-up only happens once in this short, though.
- Big Ball of Violence: When the piranhas attack Russell.
- Broken Aesop: The Aesop of "Follow copyright law and make original content that falls within the bounds of Fair Use" is broken when:
- Even if you follow copyright law to the letter, there are companies out there specifically created to game the system, and make false claims and strikes that steal ad revenue from the creator, even if the video is not monetised.
- The most popular content on the site is not wholly original content, as this short tries to claim. Let's Plays (which incorporates commentary and video game footage) and music videos are by far the most popular videos on YouTube by quite a wide margin, with the latter of which being made by record labels, not small content creators.
- Fair use for a given work can only be decided in a courtroom, not on the platform, as YouTube themselves are not an arbiter of justice. So giving the advice of "anything that falls within fair use bounds" to people is unhelpful at best, and straight-up lying at worst.
- Broken Pedestal: Lumpy becomes this to Russell after he flags his parody.
- Cartoon Juggling: Russell attempts this with piranhas for his proper original video.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: "Lumpy and the Lumpettes" sing the Happy Tree Friends theme, albeit with a different pitch.
- Digital Piracy Is Evil: The purpose of the video is to educate users about the dangers of copyright infringement and the problems that one could get into if they commit it.
- Fan Boy: Russell stands out as a huge fan of "Lumpy and the Lumpettes" (if not just Lumpy) among other characters present in the short.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- Russell's iPhone gets a service from "HTF".
- The thumbnails of YouTube's "101" series (including "Subscriptions") can be seen on the website's sidebar when it's showing Russell's recorded movie.
- Subsequent showings of the YouTube website has the video thumbnails on the sidebar related to the two main characters (Russell and Lumpy) taken from various official Happy Tree Friends works.
- Green Around the Gills: Russell gets green in the face before his Vomit Discretion Shot from circling symbols making him dizzy.
- In Name Only: The short has Happy Tree Friends characters, is set in the Happy Tree Friends universe, and even uses an early-season-style intro sequence from the show... but no blood is spilled and no graphic injuries (let alone deaths) are seen. Yes, even when Russell gets blown through his ship and attacked by piranhas.
- Lighter and Softer: More so than the "101" collab (which still contains a bit of blood as Freeze-Frame Bonus), not counting the show's own joke shorts. The entirety of the short is blood- and gore-free for the purpose of educating a more general audience.
- Made of Iron: In the context of Happy Tree Friends, Russell is surprisingly durable after having been shot through his ship by his own cannon and then bitten by the piranhas he was supposed to juggle. Justified for the short's purpose.
- Mythology Gag:
- The short opens with an intro sequence from the second internet season (and brief third season) of Happy Tree Friends.
- The backdrop in the "Lumpy and the Lumpettes" movie resembles the one from "Banjo Frenzy", the pilot episode. Lumpy is even the one playing the guitar, much like how his dinosaur prototype played the banjo.
- The live concert of the above show seems to take place at the outdoors more reminiscent of the early seasons in style.
- Oh, Crap!: Russell screams in shock quite often in this short. Justified, as he is faced with constant reminders of YouTube copyright rules.
- Piranha Problem: The piranhas Russell is juggling for his original video. They bite him back after his ship sinks.
- Skewed Priorities: The narrator is more concerned with Russell infringing on copyright by recording Lumpy's movie than he is with the fact that he's illegally recording in a movie theatre. He also seems to believe that losing your account is worse than ending up in court.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Lumpy is excited about the movie starring him and goes to see it, showing that he's his own biggest fan.
- Villain Protagonist: While not straight-up malicious, Russell definitely counts, at least from the instructor's eyes.
- Visual Pun: Russell, a pirate, is the character used to portray the user who commits Digital Piracy.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: As the media items circle around Russell, he becomes dizzy and throws up. The vomit itself is not shown, of course, to keep the video clean for general viewing.
- Wall of Text: Shown on the Fair Use textbox which Russell futilely tries to push away. The box itself covers the whole screen, allowing the viewers to get a good read of it.
- Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma: Lumpy's comment on Russell's true and honest original video:"Vaudeville at it's finest"
- The Worst Seat in the House: As Lumpy sits down in front of Russell in the cinema at the start of the video, he blocks his view of the screen with his horn, to the otter's annoyance.
