Hi Friends, i am launching a new video based website ( youtube concept ) where people can upload clips of sports for eg. nice goal clips . I have 2 questions: 1. Since the video clips shows the channel name who's broadcasting that game..can i get into some legal problems??? 2. When some live game is goin on,and say somebody posted some clips of that game 15 -20 minutes later.....don't you think its wrong??? Finally,if I display a license agreement and make the user select it during registration saying the site is not responsible for the video's uploaded..would it solve the issues...how do people do this???? Please help. Thanks
well of course its probably not allowed yet your most likely not going to be sued the most that may happen is you might get an email to remove the following videos etc... Nothing major... How do you think youtube is still alive lol
Just have a Nice big "Acceptable User Policy" saying that you take care to see if any objectionable materials are being uploaded by users and the contents are dynamic in nature .. .and thats about it . If your host doesn't have a problem with your site type(video upload site in this case) . I dont think you will face any kind of problem unless the nature of the videos being uploaded is very objectionable as such good luck with your site!
Thanks Friends, I appreciate your advice you just wrote the opposite of what i was thinking. Ofcourse all the match clips uploaded would have the channel broadcasts name,so how would I take care of all that.... infact,i do not want to take care of any video content uploaded except its some porno or violence or stuff not related to the website content.... please advice...if my understanding is wrong...i just don't want to get into any sorts of trouble,as I do not have that much money to pay if some channel sues me up.. Thanks
To prevent this, you can post in the Terms or whatever something like "Users are responsible for all content, and we shall not be personally held responsible" or something. As someone else said, Youtube get hundreds of requests daily to remove videos - you won't get more than an e-Mail warning to remove the video.
Thanks a lot geo...will do so for sure... I think these clauses from YouTube clearly expresses the same:
Are you looking for what is likely to happen or what is within the law? What country are you and your servers located? If you are in the US, this attitude guarantees that you will have no protection if a network decided to sue you. Sites like YouTube do not simply have a statement in their Terms of Service. They comply with the 'safe harbor' requirements of the DMCA. These requirements include: 1) Provider (site) has no knowledge that material uploaded is infringing 2) Provider does not benefit directly from uploaded material 3) Provider removes infringing material immediately upon learning of violations 4) Provider has a designated agent reistered with the copyright office (costs about $80) There are other provisions, but that's the basics. Google safe harbor dmca. In the US, you legally can't just put up a disclaimer and then do nothing when you find out about violations. Now, this doesn't mean that you have to look through all content that is uploaded, just that when you are notified by the copyright holder you will need to remove material. In addition, even if you do all the other things, if you do not register a contact person with the copyright office you have no protection. That being said, is it likely that you will be sued if you don't follow the law? It's probably not likely as the networks are not as sue happy as the movie and music industries. It is also less likely if your site has low traffic. My advice would be to comply with the DMCA. It's not that cumbersome or expensive.
Thanks Bluegrass, That was loads of useful information. I am located in Toronto and the servers are with godaddy so probably in the USA.... As of now,I will put a TOS on the site and then later on if there's good traffic,I will comply with DMCA rules as well... Thanks
I'm not sure how being in Canada affects you, or what Canadian laws are. I don't know if you would need to register with the copyright office if you are out of the States. Probably not, but as long as you give copyright holders a way to report infringing material, you will probably not have problems. To be safe, check with the Canadian copyright office about rules in your country.
You must immediately remove content that is in breach of copyright and have big notices to say that copyright material must not be uploaded. This does not stop your legal responsibilities (as per Napster that got sued for millions and shut down) but may get a more reasonable response from companies and avoid the legal battle in the first place.
Are you guys missing the point. He wants to rebroadcast video from Television and sports games. It says right in the credits of EVERYTHING! "Must not be rebroadcast, without the expressed written consent..." A few years back, we used to do the same thing at our bar. After the PPV fights, someone would bring in the tape and we would play it in the bar, literally minutes after it was over. HBO walked in, during a replay, and not only shut us down, but sued us for $15,000 per bar. (15 bars) and there was nothing that we could do about it. You cannot rebroadcast, or reuse for commercial use, any copywriten material. The little logo's on the bottom of the screen are there just for this purpose. To prevent pirates and rebroadcasting.
hmansfield, You are somewhat right. The difference here is that a website can be seen as a service provider (or conduit), not as a re-broadcaster. In the US (which the OP is not, so I can't hazzard to guess how much protection the DMCA would give him), if a website follows the guidelines of the DMCA safe harbor provisions, the site cannot be held liable for copyright. There are no such provisions for a bar. Recent cases have been expanding what types of websites can have protection under the DCMA. If the site registers an agent with the copyright office, and meets the other criteria, the site (and owner) cannot be held accountable for user uploaded content. Sites are not expected to review all content that is uploaded to verify that it is not illegal. That being said, if the site/owner uploads the offending content or if there is any text on the site suggesting people upload recordings of sports broadcasts, then the picture changes. Then the site is either actively infringing or advocating infringement (which would then be contributory). However, if the text says please "upload your sports clips" and the TOS tells users not to upload copyrighted materials (and all other safe harbor provisions are met) then the uploader (and not the site) is the infringer. (Again, under US law) A sports clip could be a tape of your kids high school homecoming game. It doesn't have to be a professional sports team. It is all about following the law, wording, and taking immediate action when your agent is contacted about infringing material.
I can upload videos at $0.75/ video. I can even make the agreement section that users need to agree during register to your website if you want.