With the recent boom in online video and the emergence of a participatory video culture, new questions have arisen about how to effectively manage copyright in ways that protect content owners while at the same time protecting creators that often use copyrighted works when making their new works. The Center for Social Media at American University recently gathered a group of video platform providers, scholars, and think tank experts together to address the copyright issues of the new participatory video culture, and the resulting report identifies the following core issue:

The shared problem addressed by the group was how to manage concerns of copyright holders–including new creators posting video to online sites–while also protecting the fledgling form of expression. Hyperstrict measures to restrict use of copyrighted materials, participants argued, would squelch an emerging phenomenon that is full of potential both for businesses and for democratic civil society. Ignoring the question of how to manage copyright might not only put new businesses at risk from lawsuits, but also fail to participate in creating the terms of participation in the new online universe of expression.

Participants agreed they’d like to see more education about copyright issues such as fair use, which balances the rights of content owners with those of creators. Research indicates that university-age creators of online video are either largely unaware of or confused about copyright law, and participants lamented the lack of means for online video creators to learn about acceptable uses of copyrighted materials. Revver was noted in the report as the only online video platform to help online video creators navigate the tricky waters of copyright by providing basic copyright information to users:

Participants also were provided with a survey of the terms of service of online video providers. This research showed that almost universally–Revver was the big exception–providers did not provide basic copyright information to users. Almost all sites cautioned uploaders to make sure that they owned the material they uploaded, but did not explain to them anything about how to meet any obligations or whether they had any rights to use copyrighted material without authorization. They did not explain the option of fair use to uploaders, for instance.

The participants agreed that online video providers, who have an interest in protecting both copyright holders and unauthorized (but fair) use by a new generation of creators, could play an important role in clarifying copyright issues by helping creators be copyright and fair use savvy.

Another concern involved the automation of the content takedown process outlined in Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Participants feared that automatic takedowns based on unverified takedown requests and audio and video fingerprinting technology would have too many false positives and result in the removal of videos that made acceptable use of copyrighted material. They agreed that a human review process of copyright-related issues is the best way to ensure that creative fair use is protected

All good stuff that we agree with. We support copyright law and protect content owners by screening every video uploaded to Revver. Our reviewers know copyright law and know when unauthorized use is fair use, so creativity is protected too. This info, along with links to copyright info and an explanation of the Creative Commons license applied to all videos uploaded to Revver, is made accessible to users on our copyright page.