The Fair Use Doctrine's Impact on Web Video

One topic that has been hotly debated in the past year concerning Web video is what can actually be considered fair use and what is deemed to be copyrighted material.

YouTube has developed technology that can figure out if user submitted video is utilizing songs that are copyrighted within their content. If the artist or owner of the music says that they do not what their music to be used, then YouTube can, on the artist's behalf, either cut the user’s video or just disable sound from being played back within the video.

This has caused quite a stir on YouTube because of an idea called fair use doctrine. It states that a copyrighted piece of material may be used if it is for a limited and "transformative" purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody. A lot of what this doctrine is founded upon is an attempt to not stifle the open exchange of ideas, but to allow for open peer review and criticism.

The term “transformative” has been defined very loosely, especially by those who favor net neutrality. At the heart of the issue is whether or not your YouTube video that utilizes a copyrighted song is considered to be fair use or not.

Do home movies that have copyrighted music in them fall under the fair use doctrine? That answer is not always clear.