YouTube Copyrights

Lloyds

Lloyds

Active member
Longer question..... for the sake of argument....

Assuming the video isn't of something that was already copyrighted and was illegal for them to put on there in the first place (like parts of a sitcom, NFL game, movies, etc.), would it be legal to use someone's Youtube video, or segments of it, in part of a another film?

More specifically, as an example, say I'm doing a documentary on irresponsible driving, and it's a 60 min. program. During the program, would it be legal to use some guy's video of him hot-shot racing his Corvette at 130 MPH down I-5, weaving in and out of traffic?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.....:::EXAMPLE DOCUMENTARY:::.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMMENTATOR: "....Some have even made light of their dangerous practices and proudly displayed their reckless and careless driving on Youtube for the world to see. One such video posted on Youtube by someone using the name "CorvetteCrazy" shot the following video while on Interstate 5 in Southern California weaving recklessly during early morning traffic at over 130 MPH! Watch..."

CORVETTE VIDEO PLAYS IN FULL FOR 2:30 mins.

COMMENTATOR: "The driver was clearly out of control at times, especially when he almost nicked the school bus, forcing the driver to slam on the breaks and all the kids to pile up in the front two seats. Did you see this part? Let's look at it again, and pay careful attention to the kid in the green jacket and his power drink bottle...."

CORVETTE VIDEO PLAYS min. 1:33-1:45 (0:12 seconds)

VIDEO PAUSES/FREEZES, Arrows point to drink bottle flying out the window, audio commentary of the frozen video.

COMMENTATOR: "This kid's power drink bottle came within inches of hitting the motorcyclist on the left.........."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.......::::EXAMPLE END::::.......
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, sorry for it being so long, but I wanted to set the example scene. Are Youtube (and similar sites) videos covered under copyright? Or does the fact that they put them up for the world to see somehow make them public domain (assuming they have the rights to the videos themselves in the first place).

Thanks!
 
As a follow up, the above is just an example--totally made up. I have no plans to do something about cars like that, but I'm thinking someday possibly needing to do other things using a similar approach.
 
I am not a lawyer. Copyright to a copyrightable work exists automatically from the moment it is fixed in tangible form, owned by the creator unless he transfers it to a third party. It would be safe to say that everything you see on YouTube or similar sites is copyright owned by somebody - there may be some rare exceptions of material that is in the public domain but they'll be so few and far between as to hardly be worth mentioning. Registration is not mandatory for copyright to exist - all it does it is make it easier to defend one's rights in the event someone infringes - and publishing it without copyright registration does not put it into the public domain. So I would say that you cannot use it in your own production without permission of the copyright holder unless your particular usage would fall within the areas covered by the doctrine of "Fair Use." But remember "Fair Use" is a defense if someone sues you for infringment and you still need to have the deep pockets required to hire a lawyer to offer that defense to the court.

My guess is your example of the use of a video of reckless driving might be considered fair use if you used an excerpt from it in a news magazine story on how YouTube was being irresponsible in providing a public venue for such videos and indirectly encouraging the bad behaviour by so doing. But it would be iffy if you used it in the context of a story on reckless driving per se, such as it sounds like the scenario you posed would be. The difference is that in the first instance, the practice of the public publishing of the video IS the story you're covering and using a portion of that footage as a specific example would clearly be a part of that coverage, bringing it under the Fair Use provisions of use for purposes of journalism. But in the second instance it is the topic portrayed on the video - ie, reckless driving - that is the story and while it is certainly news-worthy, I would expect the courts to say that your use of the other person's footage would be simlar to a TV station who missed getting their crews to a breaking news event simply copying a competitor's footage off the air and running it in their own newscast. I would expect the court to hold that if you wanted to use footage with examples of reckless driving to tell a story about reckless driving, you should have either gone out and filmed it yourself or licensed it from whoever did shoot it.
 
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Lloyds said:
would it be legal to use someone's Youtube video, or segments of it, in part of a another film?
Click to expand...

How would that be legal?
I don't see how the fact that it's on Youtube would make it okay to use it without permission.
Simply because it's easily accessible online wouldn't imply that the rights to a given video are 'open.'
 
you can in no way legally use copyrighted material without the written permission from the owner.
youtube putting it in front of you does not make piracy legal.
 
Kinda like stealing a car that has its doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition. Still a stolen car at the end of the day.
 
This is the part though that makes it a little less clear, hence the question. YouTube's terms state the following at http://www.youtube.com/t/terms

"C. For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube's (and its successors' and affiliates') business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the YouTube Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the YouTube Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service."
Click to expand...
So, although the thought would never even occur to me to use, say parts of a purchased DVD for the purpose I stated in this thread, the TOS that YouTube users agree and must adhere to SEEM to state that once they upload their video, they are agreeing to allow other YouTube users to redistribute and use their videos.

Certainly seems to be stating that to me.... BUT, I'm a little guy that will go broke if sued, so it's surely safer to stay away from the grey area, but.....
 
The key words are that the user is granted access through the Website (which is probably clarified as being YouTube up at the top) and all of the use, reproduce etc is permitted through the functionality of the Website.

So in short you can put up youtube links anywhere you want and embed them on your site as long as its going back to youtube to get the video.
 
THis is actually a complicated issue that is at least a bit obtuse. I have heard, and when I read the YouTube user agreement assumed the same thing, that by posting on Youtube you give up your copyright. But it is a bit unclear because although they say others can incorporate part or all of your video into other works they don't actually provide a way for you to get that video. Now if you use some hack to get the video off Youtube have you lost your rights to use it?????

Now your example sounds like a documentary or news clip, and those both get a wide path of "Fair Use". For "news" pretty much anything goes, documentaries have to be a bit more careful but get away with a lot. A feature your out and in between...... well it's in between.
 
Hi Lloyd,

Be aware Viacom has a ONE BILLION dollar lawsuit filed against YouTube/Google for copyright infringement - that nine zeros! I don't know about others, but I certainly wouldn't want to be enjoined in a lawsuit.

At any rate, I suspect if one was to look closer into the YouTube T&Cs, you'd find reproduction and distribution applies to the same conditions as YouTube. So making a copy of the video available on another site, at no cost to the end-user and no profit to the distributor, would adhere to YouTube's T&Cs (lawful or not). In fact, that's the entire purpose of the embedded HTML code.

But technically speaking, doing a video screen capture on YouTube's 425x350 pixel resolution wouldn't look too swift on a commercial product.

Regards, Michael
 
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