Post by Treklink256 on Mar 8, 2007 16:50:16 GMT -5
About a week ago, I loaded some of my HRC videos onto YouTube for other Stadium players to watch and enjoy. You can imagine my suprise when YouTube began removing my videos for copyright infringement, of all things. At first I was puzzled as to how they ran afoul of copyright law - after all, they're MY videos.
Then I realized that it was because I added some background music by country artist Garth Brooks. After doing a little research, I found this website, which described how multimedia giant Viacom has thrown a legal net over every copyright they own (and they own a lot) and demanded that YouTube remove thousands of videos containing copyrighted Viacom material.
www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=45380&src=site-marq
As you probably know, the Fair Use clause under the DMCA allows small clips of copywritten material to be re-used in videos like the Stadium videos here on Smashvrs.com without any problems. However, after talking the matter over with some friends who have had similar legal problems, I found that not only must credit be given to the artist and publisher, but the audio clipping itself must not be longer than 15 seconds in length (think of the short audio clips you hear on the 11-o-clock news during coverage of a concert or something). Since all of my HRC videos are over 15 seconds in length, they were all running afoul of copyright laws. And not just the two that were taken down - ALL of them.
Then I started thinking about the massive number of videos on this website. Many of them contain background music by popular artists. Unless whoever made the videos got explicit written permission from the copyright holder to use their material for EVERY video (and if they did, disregard this entire thread), all of the videos on this site that contain copywritten background music are apparently running afoul of copyright laws.
Guys, this is HUGE. I think smashvrs.com is a 50-megaton legal nuclear time bomb waiting to go off. PYh189 and ConqerRON would likely have a massive and enormously expensive legal problem if anyone at the RIAA caught wind of what was going on here. Those of you who have videos on the main site that contain copywritten music in them should seriously consider having PYh189 removing them and provide him with versions of the videos that do not contain copywritten material.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. I just really like this site, and don't want to see it shut down or worse for copyright problems. We've gone this long without any incidents, but I think it's best to do the right thing and cover our backsides.
That is all. Carry on.
Then I realized that it was because I added some background music by country artist Garth Brooks. After doing a little research, I found this website, which described how multimedia giant Viacom has thrown a legal net over every copyright they own (and they own a lot) and demanded that YouTube remove thousands of videos containing copyrighted Viacom material.
www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=45380&src=site-marq
As you probably know, the Fair Use clause under the DMCA allows small clips of copywritten material to be re-used in videos like the Stadium videos here on Smashvrs.com without any problems. However, after talking the matter over with some friends who have had similar legal problems, I found that not only must credit be given to the artist and publisher, but the audio clipping itself must not be longer than 15 seconds in length (think of the short audio clips you hear on the 11-o-clock news during coverage of a concert or something). Since all of my HRC videos are over 15 seconds in length, they were all running afoul of copyright laws. And not just the two that were taken down - ALL of them.
Then I started thinking about the massive number of videos on this website. Many of them contain background music by popular artists. Unless whoever made the videos got explicit written permission from the copyright holder to use their material for EVERY video (and if they did, disregard this entire thread), all of the videos on this site that contain copywritten background music are apparently running afoul of copyright laws.
Guys, this is HUGE. I think smashvrs.com is a 50-megaton legal nuclear time bomb waiting to go off. PYh189 and ConqerRON would likely have a massive and enormously expensive legal problem if anyone at the RIAA caught wind of what was going on here. Those of you who have videos on the main site that contain copywritten music in them should seriously consider having PYh189 removing them and provide him with versions of the videos that do not contain copywritten material.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. I just really like this site, and don't want to see it shut down or worse for copyright problems. We've gone this long without any incidents, but I think it's best to do the right thing and cover our backsides.
That is all. Carry on.