Copyright Laws and Online Video

If the massive copyright-infringement lawsuits brought against YouTube have taught us anything, it’s that the wild-west days of the Internet are over. Actually, the previous music-industry lawsuits should have taught us that…but I guess we’re slow learners.

These days, if you use copyrighted material in your online videos…and you don’t have a license or explicit permission to use that material…there’s a good chance you’ll be sued.

And rightfully so…the same copyright laws that apply to print and music, apply to video. Or in other words, you wouldn’t post the content of a Harry Potter novel on your web site and expect to get away with it…and the same goes with copyrighted video content.

Problem is, this whole online video thing has sprung up so rapidly…and it’s so easy to do…that people have become a little (or a lot) careless about what they use in their videos. But the bigger problem is that the copyright police are now out in force (i.e. video content owners now actively scour the Internet to find people ripping them off).

But did you know that under certain circumstances, you can use copyrighted material in your videos, without fear of retribution? It’s known as fair use.

It’s been around in the print world for centuries. And the Center for Social Media at American University is now “putting it on the books” for online video too.

Here’s a quick rundown of where you can use copyrighted material in your videos, as it applies to the “fair use” code:

• If you’re commenting on or critiquing copyrighted material
• If you’re using the material for illustration or as an example
• If the capturing of copyrighted material was incidental or accidental
• If you’re memorializing an event
• If you’re using it to launch a discussion
• If you’re using it in a mashup or remix (more specific rules apply)

Basically, the fair use code tries to bridge the gap between copyright infringement and censorship. So while you couldn’t use copyrighted material in an outright marketing video (without permission)…you could use it for say, a blog post like this, where you’re opening a topic up for discussion.

And by the way, I’m not a lawyer, so don’t hold me to anything I’ve said here. But for more information straight from the horses mouth, you can go to the American University web site here:

Center For Social Media