I am planning to develop many different sites such as a media site (like youtube) and also a celebrity picture site. ALL content would be uploaded by users, so it wouldn't really be in my hands... Would a TOS like youtubes: http://youtube.com/t/terms save me from legal hassles over celebrity pictures, videos and other copyrighted material? I would love to hear everyones thoughts.
Depends how big you are, apparently the only reason youtube wasn't sued was because no one could afford to do it.
I guess im just wondering how the copyright holders could go after you as you clearly have on the website a statement that says you are not responsible for user uploads, as they are not under your control? Also - it stats that if you are indeed the copyright holder to said pictures/video they will be removed if you ask.
youtube.com wasn't sued because there was no one with deep pockets behind them to get a lot of money out of. A TOS isn't going to keep you from getting sued. It might help you in the lawsuit, but that's it.
how much would it help you out There must be over 10,000 video sites out there with copyrighted material on them some small some big... and they don't seem to be having any issues. And don't even get me started on the 10's of thousands of fan-related celebrity sites out there with HUGE image galleries, and nothing being done about it.
A website's legal fine prints is meant to protect yourself from your users, not from 3rd parties whose rights are possibly infringed by any of your users when they put anything in your site. But by stating you take proactive measures if and when you are notified of such, you possibly keep 3rd parties suing you to a bare minimum. It won't shield you from suit. But as someone answered, it can still help you if it ever reaches Court.
you have to take down copyrighted content when contacted. Youtube hasn't because they haven't received (or acted upon) letters they have received. If you are sent a Fedex with a demand to take down video(s), and you don't comply, a TOS won't save you.
It's much like domain names. You can go ahead and do it, but if someone decides to call you out, you're going to have to comply with them
this is not correct. There are several lawsuits going on against YouTube already. One was started this past summer by a tv journalist whose reports were shown on YouTube . That was the first one that made the news, and others are also happening. If you google up "youtube lawsuit" you will find more than several already happening. Also, posting a disclaimer that you are not responsible for what a user uploads will not exempt your site from the law. Think about the original Napster: they also had disclaimers because technically they weren't hosting any files. But Napster did provide the venue for people to share copyrighted works and the pants were sued off them. It's no different than if you were a bar owner and knew people were selling drugs in your bar. You couldn't claim innocense if you were providing the means or locale for people to commit a crime.
Good points - but how can you know pictures are copyrighted that were uploaded by users unless you receive a C&D by the original copyright holders? It's impossible to go through and track down the original copyright holders to video/images. - unless they come to you.
All pictures are copyrighted the moment they are taken. The question is whether or not the person posting the picture to your site has permission of the copyright owner to post said picture. If it is a professional photo, 99 times out of 100 the poster of the image will not have the required permissions. So instead of asking how can you know if a picture is copyrighted, you need to be asking how can the poster prove they have the proper rights to post the image. The problem with waiting for a C&D letter is that at some point a copyright holder is going to simply send a take down notice to your hosting provider and file a lawsuit against you. I know I've gotten several sites taken down (including one in Eastern Europe) by filing take down notices with hosting providers. In fact I often times find it easier and quicker to file legal take down notices with the hosting provider than I do to go to the site's owner. As the case L.A. Times v. Free Republic showed, hiding behind disclaimers and claiming fair use won't protect you from users posting copyrighted materials onto your site.
I haven't read the disclaimer but i recommend that you should always comply with the laws . If your site becomes popular you could be in trouble for breaking laws .. exceptions can be there if your server is hosted in RUSSIA !
If you're using the TOS of youtube, then you're violating their copyright since their TOS are copyrighted too. Check back with an lawyer who can create a TOS specifically designed toward your site. Timo