Tongan father loses copyright battle over  birth video

A Tongan father who uploaded live footage of his son being born to Facebook last year has lost a fight to claim copyright on the video.

Kali Kanongataa has tried to stop companies using the video, claiming this infringed on his copyright of the video, but a Manhattan court closed the case closed on Wednesday (February 15).

Kanongataa had filed a series of lawsuits to try to stop other people using the video.

As Kaniva News reported last May, Kanongataa uploaded video of his son’s birth through Facebook Live.

The American television programme Good Morning America showed a brief, 22-second excerpt from the 45-minute video.

A snippet of the video also appeared on a  number of websites and television stations in the United States.

Kanongataa, who is originally from Nuku’alofa, but lives in California, later said he thought his family in Tonga would be able to view the video, but didn’t expect it to be seen by the public at large.

The ABC television network argued before Judge Lewis Kaplan that it had a “fair use” right to show a portion of the clip in conjunction with an item about the growth of live-streaming.

ABC said it had used the clip of the birth to report on a socially significant and newsworthy event.

Kanongataʻa, who goes by the name Fakamalo Ki He ʻEiki on Facebook said he accidentally posted the video to Facebook Live.

He said his intention had been to share with his close family in Tonga.

“I didn’t notice it was on the public feed until someone said ‘Push, Push’ and it was my little cousin,” Kanongataʻa said.

When we ran our story in May last year it had already been seen by more than 300,000 people.

The main points

  • A Tongan father who uploaded live footage of his son being born to Facebook last year has lost a fight to claim copyright on the video.
  • Kali Kanongataa has tried to stop people using the video, claiming those infringed on his copyright of the video, but a federal court in Manhattan closed the case closed on Wednesday (February 15).
  • Kanongataa had filed a series of lawsuits to try to stop other people using the video.
  • As Kaniva News reported last May, Kanongataa uploaded video of his son’s birth through Facebook Live.

For more information

Tongan father live stream of son’s birth on Facebook goes viral

Father Who Live Streamed Son’s Birth Loses Copyright Battle

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