 |
|
   |
 |
|
Ask a Lawyer -- Internet Law
Internet Law Question 4
Question:
I wanted to know about the copyright issues in posting an original work (song with lyrics or songs or lyrics only or music only) on youtube.com with out regestring this work with the US copyright office.. i thought that if one post such original work on youtube that could should hold up in court should some one infriges the work, since the videos posted on youtube are time stambed by youtube and then we can refrence the time and content of the video to proof the ownership of the work
if this is true, what factors to consider so that an orignal work posted on youtube have a solid copyright.. like does the videos has to contain voice or faces of creater or just a phone and address refrence is enough since a phone and address is a legal proof of identity.
kinda like youtube being the new poor man copyright.
Response:
I'm not an intellectual properties attorney (corporate / tax) so I can only give you a general response. First, reading between the line, I think you are confusing something. This statement in particular caught my attention--"like youtube being the new poor man copyright."
My guess is that your thinking is along the lines of script writers who file their works with the Screenwriters Guild mainly to have an independent third party who can attest a date certain that the filer created a work. The thought being that if another party copies the work, proof exists relative to who created the work first. Thus, I take it you find value to the time and date stamp feature to a youtube video clip post. A valid copyright comes into existence at the time of creation of a work. It is not necessayr to file with the Copyright office to perfect a copyright claim (but filing is necessary if you wish to sue to enforce a copyright claim). I'm not convinced you gain that much by having a youtube time and date stamp on your work. But I'll leave that up to artists to determine how valuable this type of date proof may be to them.
Further, having posted a video clip on youtube, you are now concerned about potentially waiving your copyright protection on that song or video. I suggest you check out Section 6 of the Youtube terms of service. Below is a portion of Section 6(c):C. For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website ... . * * * The above licenses granted by you in User Videos terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove or delete your User Videos from the YouTube Service. You understand and agree, however, that YouTube may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of User Submissions that have been removed or deleted. The above licenses granted by you in User Comments are perpetual and irrevocable. Thus, the act of posting a video by you the artist who created said video grants to Youtube a "royalty-free, sublicenseable" to publish the video online. You can terminate this sublicense by deleting the video posting from your Youtube account. They get to retain server copies of the video but are not allowed to publicly display the video. You may want to have an intellectual properties attorney look over the terms of use before posting your entire body of work to Youtube.
And one more point from the Youtube user agreement you should check out, Section 4(e): "Prohibited commercial uses do not include: uploading an original video to YouTube, or maintaining an original channel on YouTube, to promote your business or artistic enterprise." If am reading the double negative correctly in the user agreement, commerical uses of the youtube service are prohibited; however, artists are excepted from this prohibition allowing them to promote their work by posting same to Youtube.
If you are serious about your music as a career, filing with the US Copyright office should not be that big of a deal. Here is a link to the Copyright office's forms page. To protect the music and lyrics, file them in written form with Form PA (performing arts). Note, the Copyright Office is beta testing an online filing system. The fee currently is only $35 to make the filing online. See fee schedule.
Submitted: 05/17/2008; CJ, CA
Response: 05/18/2008; JJR
Add A Comment
|
|
DISCLAIMER
The above is provided for informational purposes only and is NOT to be relied upon as professional advice. The information presented on this site comes without any warranty of correctness and, therefore, should not be relied upon. This service is not a substitute for the advice of a professional. No attorney client relationship is created through use of this site.
|
|
 |
   |
|
 |
