copyrightI had an idea to create a start-up that is based around the idea of taking a particular genre of Youtube videos and putting them onto a centralized, web-based application, making it easier for the user to access the videos they want with minimal effort. I have additional ideas to add on top of this to make it more unique but stripping it down to its basics, that is what it will be.
My only concern is that the whole concept of this idea is that I will be displaying videos that I am not the original owner of and potentially making a profit from it e.g. through ad revenue.
Being that these Youtube videos have been posted on a site that everyone has access to, (obviously not EVERYONE) I would assume that as long as you’re not claiming the video as your own, you would be able to allow users to watch the video from your site.
What I would like to know is if there is a possibility that this could leader to content owners filing a suit against me for making a profit from their videos.
I am aware of sites such as StumbleUpon that allow you to search through different types of videos depending on pre-selected preferences but am not sure if there are particular copyright rules that they need to follow or if they contact every single content owner for permission to be able to do this. I don’t feel that the latter would be feasible.
So my question is;
Can I post other peoples Youtube videos on my site without their permission?
Any advice or previous experience would be much appreciated.
YouTube includes an "embed" option that allows you to show their videos on your website. If that would lead to copyright issues, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't offer that option! But check the YouTube Community Guidelines. I'm sure they'll tell you what you need to know.
By the way, be aware that YouTube will still run ads on the videos, even though they play on YOUR site. YouTube will collect all the income from that. You will make income from the ads that you place directly on your site (or from products or services you sell to your customers).
Also be aware that YouTube suggests other videos at the end of their videos, so your users might go "down the rabbit hole" and start watching videos that are off topic.
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