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(SF GATE) YouTubers aren't necessarily breaking copyright laws

YouTubers aren't necessarily breaking copyright laws

YouTube creators aren't necessarily breaking copyright laws even if their clips borrow from copyrighted music, movies and television shows, researchers at American University said. Researchers at the school's Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and Center for Social Media reviewed hundreds of videos on YouTube, MySpace and other Web sites, and concluded in a report released today that the clips, in most circumstances, could be ruled legal under "fair use" laws.

The clips fall into a number of protected categories, including satire, criticism, parody and negative or positive commentary, the report said. The rise of YouTube is spurring a new culture as people mash up, or mix, clips, publish homemade videos and create amateur and semi-professional movies.

But with YouTube and online video sites adopting copyright protection software to stop piracy, some of that "participatory media" could be lost, the researchers warn.

In one example, a short clip of a "dramatic prairie dog" was taken from a Japanese television show. It inspired hundreds of copycats, such as reworking the clip to turn the prairie dog into James Bond.

In another, a fan created a tribute to the late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter who was killed last year while filming a television segment. It mixed professional photographs and images grabbed from television and the montage to Men at Work's popular song "Down Under."

Labels: FREEDOM OF SPEECH, YOUTUBE

posted by MrK @ 1:25 PM