h3h3Productions

h3h3Productions, alongside several other channels, supported YouTube personality PewDiePie amid a 2017 controversy over jokes about Nazis in one of his videos from January.[10] On February 14, The Wall Street Journal ran a story about PewDiePie's previous references to Adolf Hitler, which brought nine other videos into the debate and elicited frequent discussions on whether media took them out of context.[11] When YouTube subsequently released tools to allow advertisers to avoid offensive videos, Ethan claimed that the tools were overly broad and negatively affected unrelated content, including his own channel.[12]

One of the authors of the Wall Street Journal piece, Jack Nicas, wrote another article on March 24 claiming YouTube did not go far enough to prevent advertising from displaying on videos that might contain racist content. Ethan accused the report of being written selectively to maximize outrage. The article showed a Coca-Cola advert playing on a video of the white supremacist country song "Alabama Nigger" by American musical group Trashy White Band.[13] Upon seeing that the video was not contributing to the uploader's income, Ethan alleged that Nicas had used an altered screenshot. Hours later, he was informed that the video was indeed monetized, but on behalf of a copyright claim rather than at the choice or to the benefit of the uploader. He withdrew his accusation in response, and The Wall Street Journal released a statement that it stood by the authenticity of the screenshots.[14][8][15]

In April 2016, Matt Hosseinzadeh, an American YouTube personality who goes by "MattHossZone" and "Bold Guy", filed a civil action against the Kleins for copyright infringement in a video on the h3h3Productions channel.[16][17] Hosseinzadeh claims that he initially contacted the Kleins "to politely ask them to remove [his] content from their video" but that they refused. His lawyer claimed that the video used more than 70% of his work "while contributing nothing substantive to it".[18][19]

After a video on this was released by h3h3Productions the following month, fellow YouTuber Philip DeFranco started a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help raise money for the Kleins' legal fees, citing the need to protect fair use on YouTube.[20] On May 26, 2016, the Kleins announced that the $130,000 raised would go into an escrow account called the "Fair Use Protection Account" (FUPA), overseen by law firm Morrison & Lee LLP and to be used to help people defend fair use.[21]

The Kleins won the lawsuit, with U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest ruling that their commentary video constituted "fair use as a matter of law" and describing it as "quintessential comment and criticism".[22][23] The case is the first of its kind to receive a judgment; while not legally binding across the United States, it provided a significant and persuasive argument to be cited in future cases relating to fair use on YouTube.[24]