Facebook acquires copyright-protection startup Source3

Facebook acquires copyright-protection startup Source3

Facebook is stepping up its efforts to tackle the issue of copyrighted videos being uploaded to the social network without permission from their rightsholders. Now the company has acquired a startup called Source3, co-founded by Patrick Sullivan, Ben Cockerham and Scott Sellwood, who sold their previous startup music-licensing firm RightsFlow to YouTube in 2011.

The news comes nearly two years after Facebook first announced plans to develop a Content ID-style "video matching" technology to identify unauthorised uploads, and just over a year since the official launch of what it called "Rights Manager" which allowed rightsholders to take this content down or leave it alone. In April this year, Facebook added the option to claim a share of any advertising earnings from matched videos, while admitting that it was “early days” for this income stream.

For Facebook, this kind of technology is not just about music, although publishers in particular have been loudly demanding that the social network get its content-protection AND licensing strategy rolling. Facebook has also faced the issue of "freebooting" where other kinds of videos (from viral clips to content made by popular YouTubers) has been ripped from YouTube and uploaded to Facebook by unrelated parties, in search of likes and page-follows.

The acquisition of Source3 is the latest sign of Facebook’s intentions on the copyright-protection side. But with its first music-licensing staff also having been recruited in recent months, publishers and labels alike are keen to see the social network push on with that side of its video business too.