Study: YouTube Uploaders Don't Understand Fair Use

Many of the people using YouTube don't understand their legally-protected right to post copyrighted material online, according to a study (PDF) conducted by American University's Center for Social Media and AU's Washington College of Law.

The study found that "College students care about copyright when they upload videos containing others' copyrighted materials to new online platforms, but they don't understand their own First Amendment rights or know how to comply with copyright law."

Since there's so much confusion about what Fair Use is, here's a good summary from yale.edu:

"Fair Use: The right, set forth in Section 107 of theUnited States Copyright Act, to use copyrighted materials for certainpurposes, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching,
scholarship, and research. Section 107 sets out four factors to beconsidered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair: (1)
the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature oris for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of thecopyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion usedin relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect ofthe use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrightedwork."

Thisleaves a lot of protection for posting copyrighted material without permission. But, as the study shows, peopletoo often accept at face value the entertainment industry's message that no use ofcommercial content is fair.

If what you create is protected by Fair Use, don't err on the side of assuming that posting it is illegal.

More findings from the study:

· "Nearly90 percent of the college students interviewed upload Internet videoscontaining copyrighted material to user-generated video sites don’treceive permission from copyright owners - but 74 percent of thembelieve it is fair to pay for the use of such material—even though inmany cases they should not have to.

· "More than half of respondents (52 percent) combine their ownvideography with recorded music; 44 percent put together moving slideshows with photos of family and friends; and 20 percent excerptedmaterial from a TV show or movie.

· "The reasons why students upload Internet videos are driven in partby their desire to create and maintain personal identity throughlocation of themselves in a social network. And part of what fuelstheir social network is shared experience of popular culture, asexemplified in Internet videos.

· "Nearly 80 percent of respondents (76 percent) said the Fair Usedoctrine—which permits use of unauthorized copyrighted material undersome circumstances-- allows them to use copyrighted material, but not asingle student could accurately define the doctrine.

· "While uploaders of Internet videos want to stay on the 'good side'
of the law, they are 'making up the rules' about what intellectualproperty to use and how to do it.

· "Most respondents felt their Internet videos provide a valuable service by giving copyrighted works 'free advertising.'"