How to Avoid Copyright Infringement

When you operate in a digital world, you have vast amounts of content available at your fingertips.

It’s easy to download images, share content, and “borrow” something you found online that grabbed your attention. But should you?

Along with ease of access to content there has also been a rise in copyright infringements. For many online operators, the infringement was completely innocent on their part. They thought the content was interesting enough to share, but they didn’t consider that it may be subject to copyright. When they suddenly received a copyright infringement notice, it was an eye-opener!

This is absolutely something that should be on your radar as a business with an online presence, so we’ve put together this quick guide to help you avoid copyright infringement:

What is copyright?

Copyright is just one category of several that refers to protecting intellectual property. It is designed to safeguard the rights of the creator, owner or license holder so that they can claim the material as their own. The Copyright Act gives owners recourse against unauthorized use of their works.

Copyrighted materials should be fixed in a “tangible medium”, which includes being on paper or recorded online. The material could be heard, touched, read or seen – each type is granted copyright protection, although usually for a limited period of time.

What does copyright include?

The US Copyright Act (1970) automatically applies to “works of authorship” that are “fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” In the online world, this means that as soon as you hit “publish” on a blog post, or upload one of your original photographs to a website, you are protected by the Act, without having to file any other paperwork. (You may choose to register a copyright in some cases, as this does come with some extra benefits, such as having a clear public record of your right to your content).

This list includes some examples of the types of content that falls under copyright (this list isn’t exhaustive):

Website text, audio, video, graphic or photographic files.
Sound recordings, including podcasts or music.
Literary works.
Articles published online, in newspapers or in magazines.
Choreography, such as dance routines.
Dramatic works (plays, musicals).
Sculptures, graphics, and paintings.
Architectural designs.
Motion pictures.

What is a copyright infringement?

Copyright infringement occurs when someone uses someone else’s copyrighted work without permission. This can happen in many forms, including:

Downloading photographs from a website, then uploading them to your own without express permission. This is one of the common issues online!
Recording a movie, play, or show in a theater on your phone.
Posting a company video to your website that uses copyrighted music, which you don’t have permission to use.
Using a modified version of someone else’s image on your website. (For example, if you took an image and cropped out part of it, you’re still breaching copyright if you didn’t get permission to use it).
Using copyrighted words, logos, or slogans.
Copying and pasting significant amounts of text without permission. While it’s common practice to quote someone else in a blog post and attribute it to them, this doesn’t protect you from copyright infringement if the original author decides they don’t want you to use it. In most cases, people don’t mind as long as you attribute it to them, but the only way to truly be safe is to seek express permission.

YouTube copyright issues

We’re focusing this guide on the online space. YouTube is a content channel that many businesses are using in different capacities, but it has been highly prone to copyright violations.

As a result, YouTube has developed sophisticated AI to automatically scan for potential copyright infringements on videos that are posted, from the music to the visual content. Content owners can also file complaints with YouTube over unauthorized use of their content. YouTube has been known to mute or completely take down videos that they find to fall afoul of copyright.

One thing to be aware of is that any sort of infringement will count as a “strike” against your account, and too many strikes can lead to suspension. You can appeal against your content being taken down if you believe it is a mistake and there is no copyright infringement, but you have to be very sure. If they decide that you’re not being truthful, you can be in more trouble in terms of account suspension or legal action.

What counts as an infringement on YouTube?

This is relatively straightforward – any use of someone else’s protected content without permission can land you a copyright. YouTube states that their “first rule of copyright” is:

“Creators should only upload videos that they have made or that they’re authorized to use. That means they should not upload videos they didn’t make, or use content in their videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or videos made by other users, without necessary authorizations.”

This means you can’t record yourself reading copyrighted material to upload on YouTube either. For example, if a living (or deceased) playwright wrote a play twenty years ago, you still can’t reproduce it for YouTube without permission. Plays are generally licensed out to theater groups because the playwright still owns the copyright. Under the law, this copyright lasts for the lifetime of the playwright, plus 70 years. (So if it’s Shakespeare, you’re fine!).

The exception under the law is “fair use”, which allows the reuse of copyrighted materials under some circumstances. In the US, works of commentary, criticism, research, teaching, or news reporting may be considered fair use.

YouTube provides a good explanation here of fair use. For example, borrowing small bits of material, such as the occasional quote or short paragraph, is more likely to be considered fair use than if you copied a substantial amount.

What is YouTube’s policy?

YouTube explains their copyright policy here. Basically, if a copyright owner submits a claim to YouTube against you, your account can get a strike. Three strikes within 90 days leads to termination of your account. They also outline that they have an appeal process for strikes, including filing a counter notification.

Infringements picked up by Content ID (their AI) work differently. YouTube will apply whatever policy the original content owner has selected, but won’t issue a strike.

The prolific use of social media and the many types of content it entails have left it rife with copyright issues. Image use is one of the big ones. You can’t simply take any photo and use it for your social media posts. Many companies have been surprised to receive infringement notices for doing this.

What counts as an infringement?

The actions that count as infringement on social media channels are the same as what we have already outlined. Any use of someone else’s protected content can be an infringement, with the exception of fair use rules. (You’re not likely to successfully argue fair use if you’ve posted someone else’s imagery.)

Each social media platform has their own terms of service published. It’s important to get to know those and understand what the consequences may be for copyright infringement. All platforms have some sort of appeal process, although most are notoriously slow to deal with appeals.

Asking for permission

How do you avoid copyright infringement? Asking for (and obtaining) permission before posting any type of content online that borrows from, or directly uses someone else’s materials is your best form of defense. You can never assume that publicly available content is public property.

Find the original owner and contact them to request permission. It can also pay to check that the person you are contacting is in fact the original owner and therefore in a position to grant permission. A recent example we heard of happened when a business owner contacted a company asking to use a couple of their photographs in an article. The company gave permission, however, the business later received a request to take the photos down by the original photographer. They had granted their client a limited use contract for the photos, meaning they didn’t have authorization to permit their use anywhere else.

Obtaining proper licensing

Some content, including images, graphic design, music, text and video clips, can be used as long as you purchase the correct license. For example, sites like iStockPhoto offer photographs and graphic images for sale.

The key here is that you need to purchase from a site that sells the content you need – don’t just download the content.

If you’re purchasing licensed content, it’s important to check the extent or limits of the license. For example, some might be “unlimited” meaning you can use it anywhere and as much as you like. Some might say “one time use,” which is self-explanatory, and some might say something like “not for commercial use,” meaning companies can’t use it. (Non-profits or private organizations might be allowed as they’re not using the content in the course of making money).

Royalty-free content

Another thing you can do to stay on the right side of copyright laws is purchase or download royalty-free content. For example, some images on sites like Unsplash are free to use in any circumstance. AudioJungle is an example of a site that sells audio content, but once you purchase it you have the right to use it however you like. There are no royalties to be paid for use.

Final thoughts

The bottom line is to think about copyright before you post online. Any sort of content that is someone else’s original intellectual property can fall under copyright laws. While the online environment makes content easy to access, it doesn’t make it fair game.

If you are going to “borrow” content, make sure your usage falls under fair use laws, or that you’ve a