Embedded YouTube Videos - Copyright Infringement?
81Most people encourage you to enhance your online articles and websites by embedding youTube videos. YouTube videos are often entertaining, and will keep visitors on your site for longer, which may enhance your search engine rankings.
In fact, many blog sites and online writing sites including HubPages, provide you with an easy way to embed youTube video links and have the content appear right there on your blog entry or article.
What are the copyright laws surrounding youTube videos? Is it copyright infringement to include an embedded youTube video link in your online article? Do you need to get permission? Whom do you get permission from - youTube, the uploader, the content creator?
And most importantly, will embedding youTube videos get you in trouble with Google AdSense?
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YouTube Videos and Copyright Infringement
Is linking to a youTube video copyright infringement?
Providing a regular link to a youTube video, like so, is clearly not infringing on any copyright laws on my part. If I provided a regular link to a likely infringing youTube video (i.e. a video that is placed on youTube without the content owner's consent), I would still not be violating any copyright laws.
In this case, the only person who would possibly be violating copyright laws is the person who uploaded the video onto youTube.
YouTube itself is fairly shielded as well because it is against their policy to host infringing videos, and once reported, all infringing videos will be removed.
This is similar to HubPages and text. HubPages is also shielded against their members publishing copied or plagiarised content because they will remove the infringing content as soon as a valid copyright (DMCA) report is filed.
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Embedded YouTube Videos
The issue of copyright infringement becomes murkier when I include an embedded youTube video link, for example in a HubPages video capsule. Now, the youTube video appears on my online article, blog, or website, in contrast to the previous case, where it only appears as a link.
Am I infringing copyright laws now?
Some people argue that it is not infringing upon any copyright laws because you are only including a link - an embedded link - but still just a link. If anybody is libel, they reason, it should be youTube who is hosting the content, or the person who uploaded the content onto youTube. Since you did not do either of those things, you clearly are not doing anything wrong.
This reasoning, however, is problematic. It is problematic because now the embedded video is appearing right on your online article or website. This is similar to embedding a picture or image that belongs to someone else.
In the case of a picture or image, you must first get permission from the owner of the image, unless the image is public domain. You should also attribute all images back to their original site (i.e. site you got the image from) and content creator/owner.
Having an embedded youTube video on your online article or website is exactly like having an embedded image - thus you must also first get permission from the owner of the youTube video. In fact, this is clearly stated in youTube's policies.
YouTube Video Permission
It seems pretty straightforward from here, just ask permission from the uploader of the youTube video that you want to embed, and you should be ready to go, right?
Sadly no. There is another wrinkle to this youTube copyright infringement issue - what if the uploader of the youTube video does not own the rights to the video?
In this case, it is an infringing youTube video. There are many such videos on youTube, usually movies, t.v. shows, and music videos. It is clearly against copyright laws to embed an infringing youTube videoin your article, blog, or website. Such a video is not even legal on youTube.
However, you may reason that it is not probable for anyone to come after you in this case because they would probably go after the uploader of the youTube video first. This is probably true, but you would still know that it is stolen content, and if you have a God, He would know too.
Therefore, do not embed infringing youTube videos into your online articles.
There will also be cases where it is not clear who the youTube video owner is. In such cases, we can only assume that the youTube video uploader is the owner, and ask him for permission of use. If he turns out not to have ownership of that content, then we have put forth our best effort and no one can fault us for someone else's deception.
Are Embedded YouTube Videos Against Google AdSense Policies?
Enough about God, what about Google - can embedding a youTube video jeapordize your Google AdSense account?
Yes, if you do not get the proper permissions. Copyright infringement is against Google AdSense Program Policies. The owner of a youTube video can file a copyright or DMCA report against you for showing his video without his permission. If that happens, your Google AdSense account will likely get banned.
Just because a video exists on youTube does not mean that it is public domain. Just because an image exists on Flickr does not mean that it is public domain. As previously stated, it is clear in youTubes policies that you must first get permission from the owner of the video before you can embed it in your own sites and articles.
Disable Embedded YouTube Video Link
Whitney and Mighty Mom brought up a very good point - the original uploader can disable their embedded youTube video link if they do not want others to show their video.
This youTube feature is a good one and gives the content owner a bit more control, however, it is an all or nothing solution.
Suppose you created a video and uploaded it onto youTube. It is getting a good number of views and many people ask your permission to show it on their sites. After reviewing their wonderful sites, you agree. A few days later, you find that some porn websites have also embedded your video.
What are you going to do? Should you disable the embedded link so that no one can use it? But then, all the valid sites that did ask for your permission will no longer have access to it either.
The case with video, I feel, is no different than the case with text and images. You have ownership of your content and it is the responsibility of the people who want to use your content to ask for your permission not the other way around.
True, many people do not follow this rule, but if you want others to be responsible about using your content, you must start by being responsible about using theirs.
Do you think you should get owner consent before including a youTube video?
See results without votingWhat Should I Do Now?
I only looked into this issue recently, and did not previously know any of the information presented in this article.
I know - ignorance is not the best excuse, but it is the only truthful one I have.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I did embed two youTube videos into two separate HubPages articles some months ago, without first getting permission from the uploader of the videos. I have since removed them. One is a music video, so it is likely an infringing youTube video, and the other is a self-made World of Warcraft video which may also be infringing content.
I also embedded a youTube home video of a rabbit fighting a snake in my Wordpress blog, which I have also removed, replacing it with a regular link to the video on youTube.
Don't Shoot the Messenger
Note - I am not a representative of Google and I do not have a vested interest in this matter. I was merely curious about this issue, and decided to do some research into it. I had some problems finding a good, straight answer, and that is why I decided to publish my findings in this hub.
This hub reports what I discovered from reading various online Forums as well as from reading the program policies of youTube and Google AdSense. I did not speak to anyone from these organizations, so what I present here is only based on what I have read and what I have deduced from my own research.
If you have a different opinion or think that I am mistaken, please let me know so that I can update the hub with more accurate information that can be of use to other online writers. Thank you.
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It's good to use YouTube videos, as you get that backlink if enough people click and watch the video. It shows up on the video page on YouTube. But, it does make since as to having permission to use it. I'd love to disable embed option, but I use my own videos on some hubs.
But most people who don't want you to use their video, disable the link to embed the video elsewhere. People can also sometimes click the video to go to the video's page on YouTube. If they don't want you to use the video, what's the point in offering and making the embed option the default?
I tend to take a "better safe than sorry" approach to this, but I had assumed that the embedded video capsule made it ok. I'm taking a second look at my own policy. Thanks, Shibashake.
Hi Wandererh - Yeah I thought so as well - until I started looking into this in greater detail. :)
Whitney - Yeah I also like that backlink option, so I think it still makes sense to put in youTube videos, but I also think that it is better to get permission from the owner first. You bring up a good point that people can turn off the embed option - however infringing videos are still infringing copyright laws whether they have the embed option on or not. As for home videos - I don't know - it doesn't take much to ask for permission so I would just do that. In "Permission to use videos" - youTube clearly states that we should followup with the content owner so I am inclined to go with that.
Thanks for dropping by Tom -
"better safe than sorry" - I'm that way too :) Based on all the forum threads I have read, youTube videos are copyrighted and not public domain.
Dang. I wish I hadn't read this hub:-). From general practice and what I see as the "norm" here on HP, most hubbers seem to use embedded YouTube videos and if there is an issue, the links come up as disabled by owner's request. So it's sort of -- if the owner has a problem they take the action.
Question for you, Shibashake: How easy/difficult have you found it to be to obtain permission from YouTube authors?
Thanks! MM
lol MM - its better to know though - I think. I read some forum threads where Adsense accounts were rejected or banned because the website in question mainly just contained infringing youTube videos.
I think in general if you are using home-made videos - nobody is going to care much :) - since as you pointed out the owner can always just disable the link. However using music videos, movie clips and such I would be more careful about.
"How easy/difficult have you found it to be to obtain permission from YouTube authors?" - I don't know. Truth be told, I only used a small number of videos so I just removed them. They were probably infringing anyway so the uploader likely did not have rights to them.
I suppose given how pervasive it is - there not much danger of sanctions - but it is never a sure thing. If you get unlucky, someone could file a DMCA.
Just reporting what I have found. Please don't shoot the messenger :)
I noticed some YouTube’s give permission right on their profile or narrative...Good info and thanks...
Hi Nancy, thanks for the info.
Yeah I think that is the way to make your youTube videos public domain - by specifically saying that they are and giving instructions on how to attribute them back to you if there are any.
Btw - sorry about not getting back to you. I am going to check out the link you gave me, but just got distracted with this and that. :)
Hmm - food for thought - I use them a lot here on HP ........ damn .... this needs some more consideration.
Thanks again for the excellent information.
Jen
Thank you for the excellent information. It certainly opened up my eyes and I removed all my YouTube videos until I can check into it further. Better to be safe than sorry!
Iphi, Jen, and Rose, thank you for dropping by. I know this is not the most pleasant of messages to read.
Please note that most people, including hubbers probably disagree with my conclusions on this issue :)
I disagree with you. The way I interpret and understand the law and the policies is that you are liable for copyright infringement if you knowingly embed a youtube video (or other uploaded video) that is itself a violation of copyright. For instance a video with a popular song soundtrack that the original uploader did not get permission to a) use and b) distribute. In that case if a "reasonable person" could be expected to know the video was violating a copyright when they embedded it they are liable for infringement.
Otherwise a youtube video is nothing more than a link to another location and if a simple link can be considered copyright infringement we're all in big trouble. In the case of Perfect10 v. Google Inc the 9th district court found in favor of Google saying that linking via HTML code (they were suing Google because thumbnail images were coming up in Google image search) is NOT a copyright infringement. In fact in case after case courts have come down in favor of that position. It takes more than simply linking to another source to be infringement on anyone's copyright.
http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2007/sam-bayard/em
Hmmm, so you are saying that if I include a link to an image, and that image shows up on my pages, that is not copyright infringement?
No, I'm saying that in the case of a video hosting site, with an embed code that the publisher can turn off or on at will, they by not removing that link are giving people permission to reuse the videos in their entirety.
I brought up the ruling in regards to the pictures not to say that using pictures and then linking to them somehow avoids copyright infringement, but to show that it can be looked at either way. It depends on the function of the picture on your site. If it's there strictly to enhance your content, to make your site more dynamic and it's not public domain then it's probably going to be copyright infringement. On the other hand if you're a search engine and the image is there as a result of indexing data it's not very likely to be considered copyright infringement. Unless you're told/asked to take it down.
"If it's there strictly to enhance your content, to make your site more dynamic and it's not public domain then it's probably going to be copyright infringement."
You said it very well here. I believe that the same applies with videos.
I also agree with your search engine analysis. In that case, it is advantageous to the search engine to be able to show a thumbnail of the images and for the copyright holder to have a representation of their content in the search results.
Still though, isn't including a youTube video in a hub usually a way to "enhance your content, to make your site more dynamic"? This is a technique that many people use to get visitors to stay longer on their pages, get a higher rank, and attract more advertising clicks. Therefore, isn't this copyright infringement?
As for turning on and off the embedded link, what if I just want to share the video with certain sites and not with others?
I feel that just because I put an image out there, so that everyone can link to it does not mean that I have made it public domain. I also do not generally like including a digital watermark on my images because I feel that it detracts from the image - but that does not mean that I have made it public domain either. If there was a similar 'embedded link' on images, I may leave it on to share it with sites that have asked for my permission, but that still does not make it public domain.
If I can tell/ask someone to take down a piece of content, then technically they are infringing on my copyright - that is why I have the right to tell/ask them to take it down.
Btw. thank you for this interesting discussion. As I said in the hub though, I do not have any personal stake in youTube videos so please do not take any of this personally. :)
Thanks for the well-researched and thought out hub. I've avoided embedding videos in my hubs because of my uncertainty over this issue. Unfortunately, I still have not gotten a definitive opinion one way or the other.
This is a great Hub. I have only written one Hub so far and I was worrying about this very same thing. I really like to be legal! So, thank you very much and thanks for all that research! WOW!
oh noes. i use YouTube videos a lot, since people say it is ok and since there is a YouTube capsule. maybe the capsules are just for our own (HP user-made) videos. thanks for bringing this up! nicely written article...
Yeah, most people do not agree with my interpretation of youTube video usage. Since so many people use it, it is probably 'legal' by popular vote :)
Great, now i still don't know what to do. I wanted to put a video on a blog because it's something to do with what happened because of this song. I found a particular video of it that I'd like to use but there's no way to contact the person that I can find. AND THEN, if I'm reading what you said right, it's not this person's song anyway, it's on a CD so ... well I just don't know. This youtube person made the video but not the song.
Hello TMinut -
I think it is mostly a personal comfort thing.
For me, I would want to get permission first. There is usually a Send Message option on a user's youTube profile page. Often, users will also include their web address. Based on all that I have read, this is the safest route to take.
However, I am clearly in the minority.
Most of the time, there isn't going to be any issues with embedded links. However, I have seen some cases where the copyright owner asked for the videos to be removed. Negative videos will frequently have a higher likelihood of that happening.
I have also read some articles of people complaining that their AdSense application got rejected because their website contained too many embedded videos - but that is only conjecture on their part.
Just do what you are most comfortable with.
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wandererh says:
5 months ago
Copyright infringement is an issue here at Hubpages. I had thought that it is probably part of the terms of YouTude that their videos can be embedded since a lot of people are doing it on HubPages. Seems that it is not so.
Good hub. :)