[mninm]

I also am not a lawyer but from what I understand the situation is actually more severe than that.

I couldn't find the reference offhand but I've read that YouTube has no ability to adjudicate the validity of a DMCA takedown request at all. They must responed as proscribed by the DMCA.

Which makes sense because once the DMCA is involved it's ultimately a legal dispute between the person that uploaded the video and the person that claims to own the copyright. And that kind of dispute is something only the courts can decide.

[PeterisP]

DMCA is not involved in the standard YouTube removal request process - the removal request does not have to fit the criteria of DMCA, the response does not have to fit the criteria of DMCA, and as long as both Jay-Z and Youtube are satisfied, the DMCA does not get involved at all, no matter what the poster of the removed content might wish.

If Jay-Z was not satisfied with the process, he could submit a DMCA request and YouTube would have to follow the DMCA requirements in processing it, but the current process is better for both of them (not for the posters of the contested content, though).

[fiddlerwoaroof]

Isn’t there some recourse? I think the content maker can assert it’s non-infringing, and then YouTube can host it again without liability: the liability falls on the content maker if it turns out to actually be infringement.