The Clock
Hermes bet everything on ten days. Apollo just bought them.
Answer the account with no face, or block it?
Comment ANSWER or BLOCK on the episode. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube all count.
Closes Oct 21, 2026 · 1pm ET
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You voted, and COURT won. At 9:30 a.m., Hermes answers Apollo's lawyer with four words: see you in court. He posts the email, and twelve hundred people follow the fight by noon.
His bet: Apollo has ten business days to show YouTube a lawsuit, and he can't file one. In the US, you generally can't sue over a US work until the Copyright Office registers it. Not when you apply: when they register. The Supreme Court said so in 2019. And Apollo never registered a single stream.
At 9:12 a.m., Apollo pays one bill and goes back to sleep. Same minute as the link, two days ago. What Hermes doesn't know: that bill came from Washington.
Here is the trap: the Copyright Office has an express lane, called special handling. Eight hundred dollars, for pending or prospective litigation, and the Office tries to finish within five working days. Five days to register, then Apollo can sue, inside the ten. Hermes counted the days. Apollo bought them.
At 11:58 p.m., an account with no face writes to Hermes: I have the whole stream. Want it?
No registration, no lawsuit
US law says no civil action for infringement of the copyright in a United States work can be instituted until preregistration or registration of the copyright claim has been made. In 2019, the Supreme Court held that registration occurs when the Copyright Office registers the copyright, not when the application is filed.
The express lane costs $800
Special handling is the expedited processing of a registration. The Copyright Office grants it only for pending or prospective litigation, customs matters, or contract or publishing deadlines, and makes every attempt to process the claim within five working days. The special handling fee for a registration claim is $800.
Ten business days to show a lawsuit
After a counter notification, the claimant has 10 US business days to give YouTube evidence of legal action. Without it, the content is reinstated.
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