Can we use a few seconds of someone else’s video in our video? Why are so many YouTubers doing it without getting into trouble?
In this case, we have to understand the term Fair Use.
What is Fair Use?
In US copyright law, the rule that short excerpts of copyright material may, under certain situations, be used for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder…. That’s fair use according to the definition at Lexico… https://www.lexico.com/definition/fair_use
That means if you are not making money commercially out of using the copyright material, then it’s fair for you to use it… BUT WAIT… It all really depends on the final decision of the legal courts.
4 Factors of Fair Use
Here are the 4 factors of Fair Use on how your video with copied materials may fit the legal exclusion under the copyright law.
- The purpose and character of the use.
- The nature of the copyrighted work.
- The amount of substantiality of the portion taken.
- The effect upon the potential market of the original content.
Factor Number 4 means if the copyright owner is losing money because of your copy, then you are liable.
Who Owns a Copyright?
Anytime you create something and put it on a fixed transferable format, you own the copyright.
You don’t have to register the copyright. You don’t have to go to any copyright office to register.
This is all legal stuff… Read about the interview with a lawyer here… https://vidiq.com/blog/post/experts-guide-fair-use-copyright-youtube-tubetalk-195-rian-bosak/
YouTube Copyright Checker
Now, the other way around. What if someone copied your Youtube video?
You can check if your YouTube video is being copied by going to the Channel Copyright tab in your YouTube account.
Looks like I’ve got some legal actions to take on my account.
Let’s discuss this further…
Feel free to leave a comment.
Share this post with a friend.
Stay out of copyright trouble by using royalty-free media… Check out my list of royalty-free resources here… https://www.videolane.com/gear/
See you in the next one!
Adrian Lee
VIDEOLANE.COM
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