What is Copyright?
Which types of work are subject to copyright?
When a person creates an original work that is fixed in a physical medium, he or she automatically owns copyright to the work. Copyright ownership gives the owner the exclusive right to use the work in certain, specific ways. Many types of works are eligible for copyright protection, including:
- Audiovisual works, such as TV shows, movies, and online videos
- Sound recordings and musical compositions
- Written works, such as lectures, articles, books, and musical compositions
- Visual works, such as paintings, posters, and advertisements
- Video games and computer software
- Dramatic works, such as plays and musicals
Ideas, facts, and processes are not subject to copyright. In order to be eligible for copyright protection, a work must be both creative and fixed in a tangible medium. Names and titles are not, by themselves, subject to copyright protection.
Is it possible to use a copyright-protected work without infringing?
In some circumstances, it is possible to use a copyright-protected work without infringing the owner’s copyright. For more about this, you may wish to learn about fair use. It is important to note that your video can still be affected by a claim of copyright infringement, even if you have...
- Given credit to the copyright owner
- Refrained from monetizing the infringing video
- Noticed similar videos that appear on YouTube
- Purchased the content on iTunes, a CD, or DVD
- Recorded the content yourself from TV, a movie theater, or the radio
- Stated that “no copyright infringement is intended”
Some content creators choose to make their work available for reuse with certain requirements. For more about this, you may wish to learn about the Creative Commons license.
Can YouTube determine copyright ownership?
No. YouTube isn’t able to mediate rights ownership disputes. When we receive a complete takedown notice, we remove the content as the law requires. When we receive a valid counter notification we forward it to the person who requested the removal. After this, it’s up to the parties involved to resolve the issue in court.
We offer Content ID to content owners who wish to automatically identify their content when it’s uploaded to YouTube, and we allow users to dispute inaccurate matches.
What is the difference between copyright and trademark? What about patents?
Copyright is just one form of intellectual property. It is not the same as trademark, which protects brand names, mottos, logos, and other source identifiers from being used by others for certain purposes. It is also different from patent law, which protects inventions. YouTube offers a separate removal process for videos which violate trademark, trade secret, or other laws.
What is the difference between copyright and privacy?
Just because you appear in a video, image or audio recording does not mean you own the copyright to it. For example, if your friend filmed a conversation between the two of you, she would own the copyright to that video recording she made. The words the two of you are speaking are not subject to copyright separately from the video itself unless they were fixed in advance.
If your friend, or someone else, uploaded a video, image or recording of you without your permission, and you feel it violates your privacy or safety, you may wish to file a privacy complaint.