Fair Use School: Response to YouTube's Copyright School Video
Channel: DarkLordofDebate
Date: 2011-07-11

This is my winning entry for Public Knowledge's video contest to create a response to YouTube's new "copyright school" video. 

While YouTube's video is generally informative about copyright law and user generated video, it falls short when it comes to its description of fair use, an exception to copyright protection that allows you to incorporate copyrighted content into your videos without the permission of the copyright holder. This video describes fair use in an easy-to-understand way, and shows that rather than being a bunch of complicated legalize that ordinary YouTube users could never understand, fair use is a simple principle that you can use as a weapon to fight abusive takedown notices and get your videos restored when they are blocked for copyright infringement.

Note that this video is NOT legal advice, and fair use law is still very nebulous and uncertain--hence my frequent use of the word "probably." While the chances of being sued for filing a counter-notice are low, it should not be done lightly, and you assume any risk that results from taking such action.

For more information on copyright, fair use, and YouTube, please visit my website, http://fairusetube.org, which features a detailed tutorial on how to dispute copyright blocks both under YouTube's automated Content ID system and with a DMCA counter-notice. 

Also visit Public Knowledge's website, at http://publicknowledge.org.

Another great resource about fair use and YouTube videos is the Center for Social Media's "Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video," available here: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-online-video. 

About Me: 
I am a 24-year old, third-year law student at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, VA, where I am the president of the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Society and an editor on the Regent Law Review. I developed a strong interest in copyright issues in college, and I hope to pursue a career in copyright and Internet law when I graduate from law school. About a year ago, I started the website http://FairUseTube.org to guide YouTube users through the often confusing copyright dispute process, and to encourage them to stand up for their fair use rights against abusive takedown notices by major media companies.