Myths about copyright on YouTube

Myths about copyright on YouTube: a practical guide to avoiding claims and blocks

If you're a content creator on YouTube, chances are you and copyright have already met through some claim or other. The platform takes copyright very seriously, and all those rules and exceptions can raise plenty of questions. Let's go over the basics we need to be clear on and the myths surrounding copyright. To protect your content on YouTube, it's important to develop a marketing plan and a content strategy that improves your communication and the engagement with your target audience. Video marketing requires understanding these legal aspects to protect your brand and improve your digital presence. Video marketing is part of your social media plan and brand identity, improving your ROI, and it should be measured with the right KPIs to optimize results and protect your brand.

How Content ID works

Content ID is YouTube's automated system for detecting and managing copyright violations.

With the amount of content uploaded to the platform every minute, an automatic system is absolutely necessary. This tool began development in 2007.

If this system detects a violation in one of your videos, it will send you a claim and make the following options available to the claimant:

• Block the video and prevent it from being viewed
• Collect the revenue generated by the ads on that video
• Share the revenue with the video's creator

The options for the person who receives the claim are as follows:

• Accept: you agree with the claim and the action imposed
• Remove or change the claimed content: If it's, for example, a song that appears at one point in the video, you can remove that segment using the YouTube editor (this editor lets you make changes without deleting the video). If you can't resolve the situation with the YouTube editor, the best option is to delete the video and re-edit it using royalty-free music or no music at all.
• Dispute the claim: When you're certain you hold all the copyright or permission to the uploaded content and you believe the claim was a mistake.

What is Fair Use

Fair use is the right to reuse copyright-protected content without the permission of the rights holder. A series of requirements and limitations must be met.

Fair use aims to safeguard freedom of expression, but the limitations exist to protect the owner of that copyright and the work itself. It's somewhat murky territory because, even if you believe you're meeting the fair use requirements, they're ambiguous, and the final word always rests with the courts.

Fair use requirements

• The purpose and nature of the use: Whether, instead of copying the original content, it brings a new angle and meaning. This is the case with some covers, song mashups, or the use of clips for educational purposes.
• The nature of the protected work: If the original content is based purely on facts, fair use is easier to justify than if the original is a work of fiction. For example, using a clip from a news broadcast to provide context.
• The proportion and significance of the part used relative to the original: Short clips are more likely to be considered fair use. That said, it can still constitute copyright infringement if that clip is highly significant to the original work. For example, it would be a misuse to review a film that just premiered and show its most important scene as a spoiler.
• The impact on the potential value of the protected work: It would be illegitimate if the use affects the rights holder's ability to earn revenue from their work. Following the previous example, revealing a key spoiler in the film's plot can take away users' interest in going to the theater to see it.

While it may seem easy to make legitimate use, the truth is that the less third-party content you use, the less risk you put your channel under. Because YouTube can go as far as deleting your channel for copyright reasons.

Myths about copyright on YouTube

This way of "getting around" copyright has generated many myths surrounding copyright on YouTube. The platform itself warns about them.

The myths are:

• If I credit the author's name, it's fair use: It's not that simple. Phrases like "All rights belong to the author" and the like have no legal validity whatsoever.
• If I use only a few seconds, they can't claim it: There's a widespread myth that the limit for Content ID not to detect you is 8 seconds, but that's just it: a legend. The system is capable of detecting short clips and, on top of that, the author of the work can file a manual claim. So there's no magic limit; if you use 2 seconds of a protected work without justification, it can still be claimed.
• If I don't turn on monetization, it's fair use: Copyright doesn't care that your intent isn't to make money. You can't use the content simply because it isn't yours.
• If I include a disclaimer, that's enough: Phrases like "I have no intention of infringing copyright" provide no protection of any kind.
• If I add original content on top of the protected work, the use is fair: it only counts if you bring a new angle or meaning to the original work; superficial commentary isn't enough.

To keep learning about YouTube, we recommend reading more of our articles, such as "3 free tools for YouTube" or "What ad formats exist on YouTube."

Quick protocol when you receive a claim

• Verify the exact segment claimed and the type of action applied.
• Decide whether it's better to edit, replace the audio, or dispute with evidence.
• Document licenses and permissions in a folder for each video.
• Avoid republishing without validating rights so it doesn't escalate to a strike.