We are sad to say that tomorrow, your usual Friday ritual of posting the Rebecca Black video to your Facebook will not be happening. (Is that just us?)
Instead, YouTube will give you this, "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black."
Oh, and a "Sorry about that."
Yeah, they'd better be sorry!
So what happened?
A rep for Black tells E! News: "We can confirm that we submitted a Take Down Notice to YouTube as a result of the dispute we have with Ark Music regarding the 'Friday' Video."
Adds a YouTube spokesman: "YouTube takes copyright infringement very seriously. When we receive a complaint alleging that a video infringes another person or company's copyrights, we remove that video. Users who believe that a video was removed in error can appeal the copyright takedown."
There doesn't seem to be an issue over whether it was "removed in error," though.
Team Rebecca was not happy with Ark, saying the company is wrongfully exploiting her image and song because they do not own the rights to either.
The only power Ark really has is over the YouTube account. And earlier this week, the company set up the "Friday" video as a $2.99 YouTube video rental. That didn't sit well with Rebecca's camp. So she got in the car (still not sure which seat) and sped away from Ark.
UPDATE June 17, 2011, at 9:05 a.m.: The "director's cut" clip of the original video is now back on YouTube in a Vevo-branded player under the account RebeccaBlackOnVEVO.