People claim copyright in white noise created by others?

I am astonished to read this news article.  It seems a fellow named Sebastian Tomczak used Audacity (a sound editing program that I use all the time, and that I recommend to everyone), which has a white noise generator, to create ten hours of white noise.  Then he made it into a Youtube video.  And then what happened?

This is the part that gobsmacks me.  What happened next is that five, count them five, different entities brought Youtube infringement takedown requests against him.

Some entity called “White Noise Sleep Therapy” claimed that this work infringed their work called “Majestic Ocean Waves White Noise”.  The owner of “Soothing Baby Sleep White Noise” also claimed that this work infringed their rights.  Some entity called “Silent Knights” likewise claimed that this work infringed their rights in “White Noise Solo White Noise Sleep”.

I don’t really know how this works on Youtube, but according to the article, a claimant can apparently demand a cut of the action and if the owner of the Youtube video does not object, the claimant gets some fraction of the revenue from the video.  In this case no fewer than five entities are apparently each collecting a micropayment each time the video is played.

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