Fair Use and Copyright on YouTube

fair use and copyright on youtube

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The status of fair use and copyright on YouTube is one that is evolving in ways that can have significant effects on many types of video account holderseven those who do not use other people’s copyrighted material. ReelSEO has a recent article highlighting important changes emphasizing that copyright holders must consider fair use before issuing a notification to YouTube accounts demanding content be taken down.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that,

“Copyright holders cannot shirk their duty to consider—in good faith and prior to sending a takedown notification— whether allegedly infringing material constitutes fair use, a use which the DMCA plainly contemplates as authorized by the law.”

A take-down notification on YouTube immediately results in banner ads being shown in an overlay on the video in question. In the case of copyrighted audio, the YouTube account often has the opportunity to remove and replace the audio with YouTube’s collection of authorized stock music. If the ad remains on the video, the copyright holder gets a cut of the ad revenue.

This system has been routinely exploited by copyright holders seeking to increase revenue from other people’s videos. While copyrighted music makes up a large segment of the videos on YouTube, this can also affect videos legitimately using purchased stock music when people illegitimately claiming the copyright for that stock music issue take-down notices. The ruling also indicates that a YouTube account holder whose video was unlawfully taken down may sue. These changes appear to be a sign that these frivolous claims may be discouraged in the future.

It has yet to be determined what changes YouTube and other video platforms will make to their take-down policies, but the ruling supports the idea that the sides of both the copyright holder and the video creator need to be reviewed with fair use in mind prior to any actions that would disturb the playback experience of the video in question. This should have the effect of ensuring Google’s search results containing YouTube videos remain relevant by providing content to searchers as intended, simultaneously reinforcing YouTube’s status as the second-largest search engine.

CLICK HERE to read the article from ReelSEO

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