Copyright infringement can change your life…and not in a good way. Penalties for infringing someone’s copyright range from a few thousand dollars ($$$$) to hundreds of thousands ($$$$$$). Yikes.

Not to mention dealing with aggressive attorneys and the time and energy needed to defend yourself. And excuses like “I didn’t know,” “It was an accident,” or “I only used a little!” typically won’t work.

Now, there might be situations where you don’t need one. Still, you should consult an attorney to understand how these situations work. For example, if you want to use Fair Use to incorporate footage in your video, then you should have legal advice reassuring you it’s appropriate to use.

Another thing to note is that even beyond the financial and legal penalties for infringement, many platforms have policies that kick off repeat infringers (for instance, YouTube’s three strike policy). As a video pro in today’s crowded market, you need as much digital real estate as you can get. Getting blacklisted from YouTube? Not a flex.

Well, what is Fair Use, exactly?

Fair use is not what many people think it is — and that can cause big problems.

Fair use allows people to use other peoples’ creative work without permission if they use that work for criticism and commentary on the original work or to transform it into something else.

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about fair use. For instance, “If I use less than X amount of something, it’s fair use” is a classic, as is “We’re a non-profit, so it’s fair use.”

Neither of these misconceptions are true. Fair Use comes into play when a video or creative product is used for:

Commentary
Educational purposes
Criticism
Transformative use (this basically means the work is transformed in a new and unexpected way that doesn’t violate the original copyright)

This is just scratching the surface on the topic. If you want to know more about fair use, the US Copyright Office provides an excellent overview. It’s recommended that people consult a legal opinion when considering fair use, as the doctrine can be rather slippery and a mistake can lead to huge consequences.

Then what does non-copyright video mean?

Certain types of videos have different copyright rules. Here are a few of them.

Creative Commons videos have specific licenses you must abide by. Creative Commons doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all. Pay close attention to the rules of each Creative Commons license to ensure you understand what you can and cannot do with this type of resource.
Stock video makes it easy to license video from a variety of places. Different license structures let you use as much video as you need.
Public domain videos mean a video is so old that its copyright has expired, making it free to use.

How can you tell if a video is copyrighted?

By default, all video is subject to copyright law. Assume you need permission and seek permission. An exception would be public-domain videos; these are so old that anyone can use them.

If you’re curious whether a video is in the public domain, you can Google public domain calculators online, which are often databases put together by different universities. However, don’t rely solely on these tools. Even though they offer some idea about whether or not something is in the public domain, it’s not a perfect system.

Frequently asked questions about video copyright

Can video be copyrighted?

Yep! Since copyright protects creative works and videos are a type of creative work, copyright protects videos. Like books, music, films, and other creative works, videos are protected by copyright law. That means that nobody can use a creator’s videos without permission from the creator.

How long is video copyrighted for?

Video copyrights last for quite a while. Currently, video copyrights last for 70 years plus the life of the author and 100 years from publication for a corporation. (This isn’t set in stone, and is subject to change at any time, which is yet another reason to keep yourself apprised of the latest in copyright law!)

How do I copyright my own videos?

Good news! When you create something, it’s automatically copyrighted. But that’s not the end of the story. You also need to partner up with a lawyer and register your work.

Key takeaways

Knowing more about how video copyrights work can transform how you do business, whether that’s:

Changing how you source B-roll to make sure it has the appropriate licenses.
Lawyering up to protect your own videos in the event of an infringement
Learning how to get rights to use someone’s creative right the first time, with fewer headaches
Knowing how much your own footage is worth, in case you ever want to make a little side money licensing it
Not going it alone, which is key for the scrappy video pro just getting started. You can’t know what you don’t know!

Since copyright law is ever-changing, the work of learning about copyright law is never complete. Even an introductory-level understanding of copyright as a video professional will help your video production business thrive in the long run.

Remember: this intro to copyright law isn’t legal advice. Don’t use this information without guidance from expert legal counsel who are qualified to help creators with the nuances of copyright law.**

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Jon Tobin