Enlarge / We think copyright’s fair use doctrine allows us to show you this screenshot from the Verge’s video. (credit: The Verge)

Last week, The Verge got a reminder about the power of the Streisand effect after its lawyers issued copyright takedown requests for two YouTube videos that criticized—and heavily excerpted—a video by The Verge. Each takedown came with a copyright “strike.” It was a big deal for the creators of the videos because three “strikes” in a 90-day period are enough to get a YouTuber permanently banned from the platform.

The move sparked an online backlash, and The Verge quickly reversed itself and asked YouTube to reinstate the videos in question. But Verge editor Nilay Patel (who, full disclosure, was briefly a colleague of mine at The Verge’s sister publication Vox.com) insists that the videos “crossed the line” into copyright infringement.

It’s hard to be sure if this is true since there are very few precedents in this area of the law. But the one legal precedent I was able to find suggests the opposite: that this kind of video is solidly within the bounds of copyright’s fair use doctrine.