Mark of MeAndMyDrum posted a reminder article (at least for me) with the purpose of debunking the myths about copyright law.

This blog, and many blogs like it, is directly affected by copyright laws. When I write a mini-review or commentary about a movie, TV show, or whatever and include a video clip, I'm left with the problem of trying to figure out if the person who posted the clip had the authority to do so.

Most YouTube members use member names that have nothing to do with their real name or their companies. The exceptions I've seen are NBC and Viacom. Even David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay of Stargate: Atlantis fame) uses "h0rrid" as his member name. How am I, the casual blog writer that I am, supposed to know if a particular video is sanctioned by the author or studio?

I have no desire to infringe on anyone's copyrights, but I find it difficult to know what's allowed to be on YouTube and what isn't. Obviously, a complete TV show or movie (in multiple clips) is a clear copyright violation. Movie trailers, for example, are not so clear. I've been paid to write sponsored posts to hype movies soon to be released and the studios are the ones that put the trailers on YouTube in the first place.

Google owns YouTube and it's Google that's being sued by Viacom for having illegal videos online. If I'm having trouble identifying illegal content on YouTube, how much more so it must be for the employees of YouTube.

I find the best video for a particular topic that I can find and link to it. I have to go through all the videos at least once per month to see if any of them have been removed from YouTube. Sometimes they say why a particular video was removed and sometimes they don't.

(Image obtained from ABC News.)