YOUTUBE CONTENT OWNERSHIP
Improving your YouTube content ownership knowledge is crucial, and it all boils down to copyright. Copyright is just one form of intellectual property law that protects original works of authorship for a set period of time. If you’re the copyright owner, this protection grants you exclusive rights to control how your work is used and who can make money from it. In the United States, copyright registration (with the U.S. Copyright Office) may be necessary before filing an infringement suit. In other jurisdictions, a copyright registration may not be available or may provide more limited benefits. Rember, copyright law is national, so get local advice. When it comes to YouTube content ownership and its creation, these videos are subject to copyright protection the moment they’re created, not based upon who is the first to register or upload them.
Copyright also protects other types of work including:
- Sound recordings and musical compositions
- Written works, such as lectures, articles, and books
- Visual works, such as photos, paintings, posters, and ads
- Video games and computer software
- Dramatic works, such as plays and musicals
Privacy is important!
If someone posts a video of you without your consent, you may request removal if you’re uniquely identifiable by image, voice, full name, or other personal information. This is separate from a copyright complaint. YouTube also has policies to handle other situations, such as harassment and harmful content. See below for procedures to deal with potential policy violations. To find out more, visit our Policy and Safety Hub and review our Community Guidelines.
What you are able to do:
- Trademark complaint – A video improperly uses our brand name or distinctive mark.
- Privacy complaint – I appear in this video without my consent
- Reporting tool – Someone is maliciously attacking me online
- Flagging tool – I found a video that incites violence or dangerous activity
Spot When you Need Copyright Permissions and Licenses
When it comes to YouTube content ownership, you must secure the rights to all elements in your video—including any music (also background music), video clips, photos, etc. The first step would be to contact the copyright owners or rightsholders directly and negotiate the appropriate licenses. Licenses typically contain explicit permission for using the content but may include limitations on exclusivity, specific rights, duration, geography, or other terms. You should seek legal advice for any licensing agreement to be certain which rights are granted and which rights are reserved by the owner.
A Creative Commons license (CC-BY license) provides different kinds of open licenses so content owners can grant someone else permission to use their work under certain circumstances. Over four million Creative Commons licensed videos are on YouTube. Anyone can remix, transform, and build upon the material in these videos for free.
Be smart on your phone!
Just because you record something on your smartphone or other device doesn’t mean you automatically own the copyright for what it contains. For example, if you record concert footage, the rights to the material could be held by the performer, music label, and publisher. Even if you purchase content, such as a song from iTunes, you don’t inherently have the right to use that content.
Cover your covers!
Some people assume making a cover song doesn’t require a license. If you perform a cover song, make sure you have permission from the copyright owners. You may need additional licenses to reproduce the original sound recording, including the song in a video, or display the lyrics. A less convoluted way to help creators find music is the YouTube Audio Library. It offers free music and sound effects, which can be used in videos according to the terms specified.
Use Works Fairly with Fair Use
Fair use (or fair dealing) is a legal doctrine and defense that says you can reuse copyright-protected material under certain circumstances without getting permission from the copyright owner. Courts have ruled that rights holders must consider fair use or fair dealing before they send a copyright takedown notice. Courts will analyze a specific case based on a set of principles to consider whether a piece of content can benefit from fair use or fair dealing exceptions. For example, works of commentary, criticism, research, teaching, or news reporting might be considered fair use or fair dealing.
Specific rules relating to fair use or fair dealing vary on a national basis. By way of example, when analyzing a specific case, U.S. courts look at the four factors of fair use outlined below.
- The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
- The nature of the copyrighted work
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
- The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
Giving credit to the copyright owner or including a disclaimer such as “no infringement intended” doesn’t necessarily constitute fair use. Similarly, declaring an upload to be “for entertainment purposes only” isn’t an automatic defense. Even if you add original material to someone’s copyrighted work, your video may not qualify as fair use, so be sure to carefully consider all four factors and get legal advice if needed. For example, a video could make use of existing content in a new and transformative way that has social value beyond the original, such as a parody or critique.
Access the Public Domain
Copyright protects works for a set period of time. The length of a term of copyright protection depends on various factors, such as the date and place of publication and whether it’s a work of corporate authorship. When works eventually lose their copyright protection, they fall into the “public domain,” making them free for everyone to use.
There’s no official list of works in the public domain, so it will be your responsibility to verify that a work is in the public domain if you want to use it.
There are a ton of rules and regulations when it comes to YouTube content ownership! You must do your due diligence to make sure you’re taking the right steps with your content. If you have any further questions please comment below and ask away!