The Electronic Frontier Foundation asked a federal court on Monday to protect the free speech rights of an animal welfare group after its video critiques of animal treatment at rodeos were removed from YouTube due to copyright claims.

The group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) videotapes and photographs rodeos in order to expose animal abuse, EFF said in a press release. SHARK posted more than two dozen videos to YouTube but the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association filed takedown demands for 13 clips and they were stripped from the video-sharing site.

EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry called the copyright claim "completely baseless" and said the complaint was made simply to block the public from seeing SHARK's controversial videos. Read more here.