Avoiding Copyright Infringements: Why Video Licensing Matters

Modern technology has been helping people to create images, pictures, and videos based on their creativity. Some of them used modern tools and technology to create amazing content that inspires others.

Thousands of creatives create millions or even billions of creative products every year.

With the overflowing contents that the creators create, it might be a difficult task for them to keep the originality of the works and to own the works.

With this issue, video licensing is required to protect creators’ works and to provide proper credits for the creators.

Various types of licenses are commonly used. Before jumping to that, let’s discuss a little bit about what is licenses and copyright.

What is Copyright?

Referring to the Cambridge Dictionary, copyright carries the meaning of “the legal right to control the production and to sell a book, play, film, photograph, or piece of music”.

In other words, your companies have the full legal protection of your works and products.

In the copyright world, there are 6 types of works that can be protected by copyright. Those are:

1. Literary Work
2. Artistic Work
3. Cinematographic Film
4. Dramatic Work
5. Music Work
6. Sound Recording

The main purpose of having a copyright on your work is to protect your time and hard work from an unauthorized party who wants to use your products or works illegally.

This talk will mainly discuss licenses for video and how to get your license.

Creative Commons Licenses

Some creators protect their works under Creative Commons.

Creative Commons license gives rights to copyright owners to publish their works and let the public reuse them under certain situations and terms.

However, it provides no complicated regulations for creators to protect their works.

Creative Commons is the way to go for you who create cinematographic film or video.

The examples of licenses they provided are explained below.

Public Domain

Public domain means that all the works are free to be accessed by anyone without any restrictions and certain credits.

This license type is suitable for creators who love sharing their works with other creative creator.

ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)

ShareAlike is categorized as a flexible license compared to other licenses under Creative Common.

It allows people to distribute, copy, perform, or use for any purpose under one condition.

The party who uses your product must have the same license and pay credit for you.

No-Derivatives (CC BY-ND)

This license is more restrictive compared to other licenses.

Although it allows you to copy and distribute the work you are not allowed to make any changes to related work.

You are also not allowed to distribute the works for commercial purposes.

Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

This license seems more flexible rather than a no-derivatives license, but not for commercial matters.

The copyright owners allow you to copy, distribute, use, perform, and even make a tweak to your works.

They are banned from using your work for commercial purposes like selling.

Noncommercial-ShareAlike (BY-NC-SA)

We can assume that this license is the combination of noncommercial and ShareAlike license.

People are allowed to copy as well as distribute the work. You may also make changes to the works.

But, you have to remember to give appropriate credit and mention the change you made.

Is It Important to Make a Video License?

Protecting your work is not an obligation for creators to fulfill. The moment your works are created, they automatically and originally belong to you.

You have the right to choose whether to have a copyright for your works or not.

There are a lot of benefits you will get by registering your work:

1. Once you register your work with a copyright license agency, you will have public ownership record. Your works will be legally approved as yours. Thus, this act is helpful in preventing copyright infringement.
2. Copyright can identify who the owner of the work is.
3. The right to claim statutory damages from unauthorized users. You have the right to get an award of statutory damages and attorney fees.

Do I Need One?

Video licensing is used to protect your works from third parties or unauthorized users who might use your works to their advantage.

If you created great work and you wanted to claim that as your masterpiece, then you need licensing.

As already explained, there are a lot of benefits that you can get by having a license for your work.

It is totally up to you whether to claim the originality of your work or not (this is obviously an easy choice).

How to Get Copyright Permission?

There are no specific requirements to get copyright permission for your work. The moment your works are created, the works belong to you.

However, registering your work under a legal organization is a separate issue.

To obtain a patent, legal, and recognized trademark in the U.S., you might visit www.copyright.gov.com or https://copyrightalliance.org/education/copyright-law-explained/copyright-registration/.

How Long Does Copyright Last?

According to Copyright.gov, copyright will last as the life of the creator with seventy years plus after the creator’s death.

In short, you have a long time to protect your work from unauthorized users.

There are various powerful video licensing to protect your video masterpieces.

For every work that needs protection, it is your right to choose what kind of video licensing you to want to use.

Read More: Everything You Need to Know About Video Licensing on the Internet.

So, which one of those video licensing that matches your needs?

Let us know your choice by leaving a comment below!