Hi Marc:
Mike makes several good points. Here is my take on the issue:
1. There are lawyers and there are lawyers. Lawyers (like
academics and medical people) tend to specialize in particular
areas. The natural tendency for a lawyer who is unsure of the
ramifications of an action is to advise someone not to engage in
that action. So your school attorney (who is probably very
knowledgeable in employment and compensation issues) may not be
very strong with regard to copyright issues.
2. Your intended use seems to fall under "fair use" provisions.
Here is a link to the US Copyright office that offers a short
definition. I would look at that material and proceed from there.
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
Ken
---------------------------------------------------------------
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---------------------------------------------------------------
On 2/4/2011 11:36 PM, Mike Palij wrote:
On Friday, February 04, 2011 1:33 PM, Marc Carter wrote:
Hi, All --
One of my students is considering using YouTube clips in a source/false
memory study, and we don't know about copyright issues. Do any of
you have any idea about whether it's appropriate to do that without seeking
permission in advance?
We could email the person who posted it and get permission that way,
but I'm not sure of the legality of it. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
A few points.
(1) This is a legal question that you should ask an attorney associated with
your school. This is a serious issue. Stop and think about it. Would You post
to Tips something like "I'm having serious chest pains. Does anyone have
any ideas whether I'm having a heart attack?"
(2) I'm not a lawyer (just saying; most people on Tips are not lawyers and
you do want to get a legal opinion from a lawyer) but as soon as you "fix"
something into a particular form (e.g., a narrative text, a painting or drawing,
a picture, a video, etc.) you automatically hold the copyright to the
fixed form, regardless of whether you specify a copyright notice or not.
This is why the writer of a doctoral dissertation doesn't have to submit
a formal copyright notice or even specify that the author holds the copyright --
it is assumed (e.g., my dissertation somehow wound up on books.google.com
and when I asked them how it got there I didn't get an answer but they said
that I held the copyright and they would not display any of the text unless I
gave them permission to do so; a copy still can be gotten from the Dissertations
Abstracts folks). Same for YouTube videos. People who put up original
videos hold the copyright to the video UNLESS THEY EXPLICITLY
GIVE IT UP. See, for example:
http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=83755
Assume that someone who puts up an original work on YouTube holds the
copyright unless they explicitly say otherwise. Then again, I'm not a lawyer
and as YoutTube states, they're not relying upon lawyer's advice, so you
better get the advice of a lawyer.
(3) I think the real issue if whether one's use of a video falls under the "fair
use"
provision of the copyright law. If the original creator of a video wants to be
"difficult", they claim that no one can use their video unless they get their
permission (and perhaps some compensation). This issue comes up when
people "embed" a YouTube video on their website. One discussion of the
issues is provided here:
http://www.thesitewizard.com/general/embed-youtube-video-copyright-matters.shtml
Again, the person writing on this website is not a lawyer and is not rendering
a legal opinion but it does provide context for the issues involved. Which
should be helpful when one does talk to a lawyer about the specific use of
a video is "fair use" or requires the permission of the copyright holder. Some
copyright holders won't care while others will and may want to be compensated
somehow for the use of their original materials.
Copyright is a weird issue but if you want to play it safe (a) always ask the
apparent holder of the copyrighted material for permission to use it, and/or
(b) get a legal opinion, especially from someone who does copyright law.
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
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