Burned on YouTube for Copyright Infringement!

deandre.vidale

New member
Hey everybody,

Some time ago I got a video I produced botted off of YouTube because of a claim of copyright infringement. The video was a short doc of my internship at a TV station. The station loved it so much they put it on the air (great right?). But then I put it on YouTube and some firm tell YouTube I'm breaking the law.

My question is: how do I go about getting copyright permissions? Can anyone recommend any websites or books they use? Especially where I can get the proper forms? I apologize if this subject is already threaded somewhere else.

Thanks,
DeAndre' Vidale
"Believe beyond your dreams" - Eph 2:20-21
 
http://www.copyright.gov

That's the official website of the copyright office. It's actually pretty simple to get your work copyrighted, all of the forms and FAQs you need are on that site. Just look around it a bit and you should figure it out pretty quick.

I definitely recommend copyrighting anything significant you do, especially if you're going to put it out for people to see. The process is simple and (relatively) cheap so it's kind of a waste not to... (Oh, and the "poor man's" copyright method of sending yourself the project by certified mail and not opening it really won't hold up in most courts... so I wouldn't suggest trying that.)

Hope this helps...
 
thanks for the quick response. I'm not exactly sure I made my question clear however.

What I'm trying to find out is how do I get copyrighted work that may be in my video cleared? For instance: the station's logo, popular music or theme songs.

thanks again.
 
I don't mean to say that professor's response was wrong, it is definitely a good idea to register your works, but that's all it is, registering. All creative works are protected in the name of the artist by law from the moment of creation. Registering just gives you evidence to support your claim should someone challenge it down the road.

Now if someone is accusing you of copyright infringement that's a different story. Thier saying that your video contains some intellectual property belonging to them and that your use of said property is outside the bounds of fair use. If this is true then youtube could be opening itself to a lawsuit if they display it.

On the other hand, if you don't think your video contains anyone else's intellectual property or if said property is not a majority of the creative work, then it's perfectly acceptable under current law. You don't have to pay every building contractor in New York to show the New York skyline. Alot of companies make 1,000s more copyright infringement complaints than they ever file a claim for or are legally entitled to. It's a scare tactic.

If you think it's ok, repost and send an email to Youtube saying the people who complained are full of it. Let'em send a lawyer to shut you up if it's that important to them.

I am not a lawyer nor does the previous post constitute legal advice. :)

Seriously though, I would find out who complained and why, and maybe you can blur that part out and repost. It's what they do on most TV shows with trademarks and brand names.

Now to answer your other questions.

To clear popular music for air or in a film, you need to contact either ASCAP(American Society of Composers, Authors, & Publishers) or BMI (Broadcast Music, INC) the two major music licencing agencies to inquire about licencing rights. The cost depends greatly on the intended use, the potential audience, ect. and is usually prohibitively expensive for small productions. It's usually better to have a local group do a similar sounding song, or get the rights to the written work and have a cover band do it.

For all trademarks, as in the station logo, you have to go directly to the owner of the trademark. If the station dosen't mind you filming it, then your golden. Usually the graphic artist that designed it signed all rights to it over to the trademark owner.
 
For the future, when you're shooting just make theres no logos or brands showing unless specifically intended and you'll have no problems. If you accidently let some slip or cannot get clearance, just blur them out in your video editor so they're unrecognizable and you're golden.

As for music, you'll have to contact the creator / band and recieve written permissed from them. Most of the time they will charge you a small fee, but if you're lucky or they're small they may want the publicity and let it go.

Good luck with that man. Hope everything works out!
 

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