Yes, Someone Does Want To Take Credit For Creating Rebecca Black's “Friday” Video

In apparent anticipation of a legal fight over control of Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” the creators of the YouTube hit filed to copyright the video, records show.

Christopher Lowe and Ian Hotchkiss, whose Los Angeles-based Suite 7 Productions company was hired to make Black’s video, registered the work with the United State Copyright Office on March 23, about 10 days after the song started to become a (much-derided) Internet sensation.

“Friday” was removed yesterday from YouTube and replaced with the message, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black.” Besides the Lowe-Hotchkiss filing, a review of online records turns up no other attempts to register a “Friday” copyright.

Lowe and Hotchkiss, both 25, contend that their copyright claim is based on their joint authorship of “all video material and creative concepts related to the video.” The duo was hired to make the music video by Ark Music Factory’s Patrice Wilson, who wrote the lyrics for “Friday.”

However, in a TSG interview last month, Lowe noted that his firm never signed a contract with Ark, Black, or the teenage singer’s mother. While noting that “the video played a big part in the success” of “Friday,” Lowe declined to say whether he and Hotchkiss earned money beyond what they were initially paid by Ark.

Lowe said that he and Hotchkiss solely created the “Friday” script, and later filmed and edited the video.

While the Lowe/Hotchkiss copyright filing references “all other cinematographic material, additional new footage,” Lowe laughed when asked if any outtakes, bloopers, or behind-the-scenes material could be knit into a “Making of” video. “I don’t think that’s going to happen," he said.