YouTube launched on February 14th, 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim is now the second most visited website in the world which has over 20 billion visits monthly. However, with over 500 million channels it is difficult for to keep a track on content ownership and maintain probity among its publishers. So the concept of Copyright was introduced and every content creator is bound to abide by it.
Who owns the copyright?
Whenever you create and upload a video, automatically, the copyright of it belongs to you. Even after the death of the creator, the copyright still lives with him/her.
What happens if you are involved in a copyright infringement claim?
If your video includes content from another creator, you may get a copyright strike. After you get a copyright strike, your video is removed from YouTube. Copyright acts as a warning and affects your ability to monetize content. After you get three copyright strikes, you account will be terminated.
How to resolve a copyright strike?
A copyright strike expires after 3 months, however, it is mandatory for you answer a few set of questions asked by YouTube in what it calls Copyright School.
Here are a few things you need to keep in mind in case you get a copyright strike.
You should never ask for YouTube’s permission to use content that belongs to some other users. YouTube doesn’t grant rights to use any instance of a third-party content in a video uploaded on it.
A piece of content which was previously allowed by the content owner may later be removed from YouTube. Owners may change their mind regarding the way their content is being published on YouTube. So they can ask you to renounce their content whenever they want.
Creating 100% original new content for YouTube will help to protect yourself against claims of copyright infringement. There is no chance for an original YouTube Video to get removed from YouTube. Original and creative videos are always protected by Copyright.
If an intentional notice of copyright infringement just for the sake of fun is filed against a YouTube video, the person who has issued the complaint can be held liable for any damages caused. YouTube takes copyright policies very seriously and hence fraudulent copyright allegations may put the culprit in trouble.
A remix or a mashup of a song can also be responsible for infringement of copyright. For making a remix or a mashup of a song, you need to have valid permission from the original content creator.
Filing a counter-notification is not the only possible option in case of a copyright infringement notification. You can also reach out to content owners and ask them to revoke their copyright infringement claims after which YouTube will reinstate your video immediately.
Just because something is available on the Internet and is in the public domain, it cannot be uploaded on YouTube.
Deleting a video that was responsible for copyright infringement does not release the associated infringement strike. The copyright strike lasts for a minimum period of 90 days.
If an uploader claims a fair use in the description of a video, it does not mean that it cannot be considered as a copyright infringement. Every video is thoroughly checked to see whether it satisfies copyright infringement policies. It doesn’t depend on the assertions of an uploader.
YouTube is not selective regarding the copyright protection it offers. It is not just given to major film, television or recording corporations. Copyright protection is given to each and every user of YouTube.
Even if the original creator of the copyrighted content passes away, the work is still protected by copyright. A copyright cannot be forsaken without the consent of the owner.
“Fair Use” is not a legal defense that applies in all the countries.
You can lose a YouTube account if you are found to be a repeat infringer. When you get the third copyright strike you are suspended.
No one can issue a copyright claim on behalf of someone else. Only the content owners can issue a copyright claim.
Even though the content has been modified in some or the other way, it is not fair to use the copyrighted material. Unless you have content owner’s permission, you cannot re-use the content in any form. You may be subject to claims of copyright infringement if such unethical usage is detected.
Uploading a video of yourself recording your favorite cover song also requires permission of the copyright holder. Even though the video exclusively belongs to you, the content doesn’t. So it is necessary to acquire required permissions of the copyright holder.
Giving credit to the creator in your video’s description is not enough to prevent copyright infringement. An approval of the copyright holder is essential to use it in a YouTube video.
In order to maintain the integrity of creative content creators, YouTube takes copyright infringement very seriously and violation of its policies may invite serious troubles.
Things like names, places, faces and spaces are not copyrightable. Only the content owned by someone is copyrightable.
If your video is removed because of copyright infringement, you will receive a notice the next time you login into your YouTube Account. You will also receive an email at the address which is associated with your YouTube account.
In order to know whether a particular content is authorized to be used on YouTube, you should not upload it to your account and then wait for Content ID system to block it. It is essential for you to know whether you have rights to upload the content to YouTube or not.
You can File a counter-notification if someone alleges that you have infringed their copyright and you are certain that this is not the case.
It is not morally correct to upload an entire cartoon episode without the authorization of the copyright owner just because you are going to share it with your friends, family and fans. An approval of the copyright holder is essential to use the content in a YouTube video.
Rights of a music video may belong to more than one owners. It is necessary to acquire consent of all of them to re-use it in any form.
An insight of the things mentioned above should be clear to all the content creators trying to concrete themselves in the vastness of YouTube.