Studios have responded by giving informal and blanketing permission for YouTube users to use their works, but copyright expert Kim Walker warns of the consequences.
It may be great PR, both with YouTube users and gamers, but giving such informal nods of the head could set them up for court case failure down the line.
”Posting video clips without the copyright owners’ permission is copyright infringement,” said Kim Walker, a partner in law firm Thomas Eggar, and expert in the copyright field. ”In allowing gamers to promote themselves with footage informally, and by announcing this to the press, developers may be waiving their right to take action for infringement against these or other You-tubers if the content is used in a way they don’t like, unless they have clearly reserved their rights.”
”A licence agreement would be the best way of protecting both parties rather than leaving things on an informal basis, but there will likely be a cost to administer the scheme and so may not prove popular.”
It seems the aging copyright laws have finally collided with today’s digital streaming world and it’s time they evolved. Fortunately the world is fall of litigation specialists happy to charge us for the privilege of understanding on our behalf what the alien language that is ‘fine print’ actually means in jail terms. Bless you, lawyers.
