I have recently written a couple articles in response to the many questions I receive about whether or not using content found on YouTube is a violation of copyright.
In one article I spoke with a lawyer about his views on using material found on Youtube. In another I provided some resources for deciding whether or not the content you would like to use can be used legally.
Last week, YouTube took a pretty big step in helping address copyright concerns with the introduction of Creative Commons content to its internal video editor. This new feature provides users with more content that can be used without fear of copyright infringement.
YouTubers are now able to access thousands of Creative Commons (CC) videos which are easily searchable from within the video editor tool. Those with videos on YouTube can contribute to the community by marking their own content as CC.
From the YouTube Creative Commons page:
By marking your original video with a Creative Commons license, you are granting the entire YouTube community the right to reuse and edit that video. Please understand that you may ONLY mark your uploaded video with a Creative Commons license if it consists ENTIRELY of content licensable by you under the CC-BY license.
Some examples of such licensable content are:
- Your entirely originally created content
- Other videos marked with a CC-BY license
- Videos in the public domain
The YouTube video editor will also automatically link to the original content for you so you don't have to worry about giving proper credit. The tool is still a bit rudimentary, but is great for simple video editing and should clean up a lot of accidental copyright infringements.
About the author: AJ George is IconLogic's lead Technical Communicator and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials."