WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Linking to YouTube videos from course Web sites

for

From: Sean Keegan
Date: Apr 8, 2008 12:50PM

> If you are in the US, copyright doesn't really apply to
> captions, electronic copies, etc. made of copyrighted
> materials. It comes under the provisions of Fair Use if
> I am not mistaken.

I do not believe that is accurate. Fair Use does not give you specific
rights - it is a legal defense for using copyrighted materials.
Specifically, there are four factors that are considered (see
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html).

One the reasons you need to obtain permission for captioning videos (e.g.,
VHS, DVD, etc.) is because you often need to make a *copy* of the materials
in order to create a captioned version. We have had situations in our
system where video copyright holders denied permission to caption because
holder was making a captioned version available for purchase (which was
actually better as it was the same price as the uncaptioned version and
would have cost a lot to caption the original presentation).

With respect to Web-based video, I do not know what the legal interpretation
is for content that is streamed from one source with captions overlaid from
a separate source (e.g., http://www.overstream.net). There is no copying of
the video nor is there any change to the original content. Rather, you just
have two content streams being played back at the same time. If anyone has
found any legal precedents, please post.

Take care,
Sean