Like I have time for this crap, but I got a DM this morning from a fellow (awesome) blogger (who has obviously got my back) that read:
“Hi Char!! I wanted to tell you – someone is using your video on this blog post…”
Oh yeah. (P.S. I am not linking to said blog post because it would drive traffic to the site)
Listen, generally, I don’t mind people using my stuff, but unless you ask and get my permission to use it, it is copyright infringement. Whether it be a video post, excerpt from a post, or a whole post…If you don’t ask and don’t get, you don’t use. Period. However, some are under the assumption that so long as you credit said person’s work, you can use it.
Um. No. That should be filed under “incorrect assumption”.
Now, you can link to someone site, including appropriate credit, with, say, the recipe you want to share with your readers. But copying and pasting it into your own site? Boo! Another popular misperception: just because there is an embed code for a video in YouTube, doesn’t mean you get to embed the video in your own site, without repercussions. There are federal laws that can apply outside of terms of service.
Case in point, my fellow blogger lawyer, Sara from SavingforSomeday.com wrote a create post about copyright infringement. I can link to it here, but if I used it in whole or in part, on my website, without getting her permission (and crediting her for it) would be wrong. Sara has great solutions in her post about what to do when it happens to you, but it dang sucks when it does. Especially when it is used in unflattering context to boot.
So back to me. I searched the site to be able to send an email, but obviously this person does not want to held accountable for their work, so I had to resort to leaving a comment and tweeting. I decided to even contact the company that was the subject of my video post, since they may have a legal team that may be interested. Will this person backlash? Maybe.
This is a royal pain in the butt, and I hate getting ‘all legal’ on people. I don’t want to do that, so let’s leave my stuff alone, ‘kay.
Perhaps you should take a moment to view the Youtube terms of service before you post an embeddable video.
“6. Your Content and Conduct
For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your Content. However, by submitting Content 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 Content in connection with the Service and YouTube’s (and its successors’ and affiliates’) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such Content as permitted through the functionality of the Service and under these Terms of Service. The above licenses granted by you in video Content you submit to the Service terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove or delete your videos from the Service. You understand and agree, however, that YouTube may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of your videos that have been removed or deleted. The above licenses granted by you in user comments you submit are perpetual and irrevocable.”
Not to mention, calm down already, it’s just a clip of you talking about deodorant. Jesus Christ, I hate bloggers.
That sucks! I”m so sorry, Char. What a pain in the ass. It doesn’t matter what the YouTube rules are…it only takes a second to ask if you can use something that doesn’t belong to you.