How Licensing Works

Lilikoi Juice said:
Gisik, what about "commercial-use" products? I purchase fonts for my photoshop and I use commercial-use approved in my thumbs... That's pretty much the same as creative commons right? :unsure:
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Fonts and images are a little more tricky - just because people tend not to write licenses specifically for video. However, there are two things that are in your favor:
  1. YouTube is relatively unlikely to auto-flag images or fonts, whereas they're much more likely to detect music/video use.
  2. It's much easier to make a case for fair use
Unfortunately commercial use isn't really descriptive - all that really means is "you can use this for financial gain in some context". But the context isn't necessarily specified. My best advice would be: read whatever license they've got. If they don't prohibit use with video, you'd have a good legal case if anyone ever came after you for it (which isn't going to happen).
Also, commercial fonts / images tend not to require attribution - making them much nicer than Creative Commons :)
 
gisikw said:
Fonts and images are a little more tricky - just because people tend not to write licenses specifically for video. However, there are two things that are in your favor:
  1. YouTube is relatively unlikely to auto-flag images or fonts, whereas they're much more likely to detect music/video use.
  2. It's much easier to make a case for fair use
Unfortunately commercial use isn't really descriptive - all that really means is "you can use this for financial gain in some context". But the context isn't necessarily specified. My best advice would be: read whatever license they've got. If they don't prohibit use with video, you'd have a good legal case if anyone ever came after you for it (which isn't going to happen).

Also, commercial fonts / images tend not to require attribution - making them much nicer than Creative Commons :)
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Okay, thanks a lot. I re-read the license and none of them prohibit its use in videos.
 
5arg said:
What exactly do you need to have to prove you have artists permission to use his music? :) Some sort of contract, or just his message in e-mail saying he gives you permission to upload his music?
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From YouTube's perspective, an email is fine. If you're super-nervous about it though, have the artist write down and sign the following: "I, Artist, declare that Name of Work is my own work, and I grant a non-transferrable license to YouTuber to use this work, subject to the following restrictions: ...."

That's enough to hold up in small-claims court, and probably will sneak you through a real court system.

For them to file a suit though, they'd have to prove that 1. you violated their copyright AND 2. it caused them monetary loss. So really, you're just looking for something that you can send YouTube to appeal a copyright flag if it goes up. :)
 
Lilikoi Juice said:
Okay, thanks a lot. I re-read the license and none of them prohibit its use in videos.
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In a practical sense - nobody is ever going to come after you over a font. Images though can be a pain - even iStockPhoto doesn't often license things for video, which is frustrating.

However, for someone to win a copyright suit, they have to prove 1. you violated copyright, AND 2. it cost them money. The second one is really hard to prove, so from a practical standpoint, you don't need to worry about it :)
 
Woot! Informative information to inform me. :) This is a really great breakdown because I have seen load of questions about this stuff around and this gives simple answers. Thanks for posting.
 
What are the restrictions on gameplay? I play Happy Wheels in a few of my videos, will I have to provide a license for that? I am currently monetised, even though I have only been using my channel for a few days.
 
Joshua 2PlayGamez said:
Ok, how would i obtain this license? I wouldn't know what to do with it, or how to get it, that's the problem!
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Honestly, you're best of chatting with your lawyer on that one. You could contact the game manufacturer directly and ask though :)

Or, sign with a gaming network that already has licenses for those games.
 
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