[CraigWoodland]

Hi all,

I'm currently doing a web based project which involves using YouTube videos from popular TV shows and looking into the possible copyright issues before it goes online.

I cant give too much away (it is a unique concept) but basically I'm using clips of popular TV shows straight from YouTube (I am not downloading or hosting the videos, they are being played direct from YouTube servers using their Player API). As I am not directly downloading/hosting/editing the videos, but simply allowing other users to view videos via my site, will there be any issues with copyrights?

The end project will be free-use (you will not have to pay to use) and so I cannot afford insurance for the site.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[BlueDreamer]

A lot of TV clips are put up by the TV Channel owners these days so they'd expect people to show them on other sites via Youtube. If you use "official" clips I can't see too much to be worried about, so long as you don't abuse Youtube's usage policy.

If the clips are blatent copies/rips, or home made (like extracting from recorded video) then in theory the copyright owner could wave their legal team at you with a take down notice, but I think it's more likely they'd go to Youtube first for removal - you'd be left with a "not available" video on your site but that's not the end of the world.

As usual with these sort of issues it's best consulting legal advice.

This post has been edited by BlueDreamer: 02 September 2010 - 11:18 PM