Creative Commons, Fair Use, Attribution

[Larger.life]

I see many of the big newsy sites do compilations like, "Dogs afraid of their shadows", that consist of several YouTube clips, and they give attribution to the YT channel with tiny watermarks. Are they covered to use the clips if the original videos are marked Creative Commons, or are they contacting each video creator to get permission? Or is this "fair use"? I'm not clear on the jargon, but I'm seeking best (legal practices) for doing similar. Thanks

 

[Shakycow]

It depends on each individual video.

Some, like those marked for Creative Commons, often don't need anything more than proper attribution. Other times they'll contact the channel owners for permissions...although there are numerous companies who often do this for news organizations and have the licensing deals already in place.

...and then there are times when, sadly, the videos are stolen and used without permissions or concent.

'Fair use' is a gray area that's only decided by a court, but it's fairly safe to say that the vast majority of compilations would not fall under the fair use guidelines.

 

[Tarmack]

Be aware that just because a person marked their video on YouTube as Creative Commons, doesn't mean they own the video and have the ability to assign that license to it.