(C)+legislation+&+YouTube+usage

=﻿Copyright legislation and YouTube usage=

Legislation is the Gospel behind copyright law

Photo courtesy of Carole Cohen (2010)

In using the services of YouTube one must be mindful of [|copyright legislation]and how it may impact one's creation and use of video content.

An excellent overview of Canadian copyright law may be found on the [|Creative Commons] (CC) website.

Some examples of how one may apply [|Canadian copyright legislation]to their YouTube usage
This is not a comprehensive review of the copyright legislation but only some examples of how one may pick through the Copyright Act and apply its content to YouTube video creation and usage.

Applying the definitions listed within [|schedule 2 of the Act] YouTube videos would fall uner the category of "cinematographic work".

Applying [|schedule 3 of the Act], one may conclude that the creator of a YouTube video must have the right to use any material that is contained within the video. On the other hand, one who owns the copyright of any material has the the right to produce videos of such material for public consumption. Section 3(f) is particularly interesting in that it implies that communicating a work by telecommunications, and this would include YouTube, would violate copyright law. In other words, if one does not have a copyright on the material within the video, they do not have the right to upload it to YouTube.

YouTube's upload disclaimer echoes aspects of this copyright legislation.

[|Schedule 6] of the act explains that the copyright term shall last for the life of the author plus 50 years. [|Schedule 11] onwards provides even more detail on length of copyright on cinematic material.

The [|Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, Access Copyright,]provides information on proposed copyright tariff's for post secondary institutions, but the 2011 - 2013 tariff is mainly concerned with the photocopying, scanning and uploading, and the emailling of portions of written works - none of which may be applied to [|YouTube] usage.