Suppose you want to share some of your favorite moments from the last night’s match on public platforms, but are worried that they may be taken down. This happens to more people than you might think. One minute a person might be minding their own business and visiting Betminded and the next their vids may be taken down for copyright infringement. How to avoid that?

Fair UseBetminded

You may have come across the term ‘fair use’ or ‘fair usage’. It means that everyone is allowed to use the broadcast to a degree, depending on several factors. It is very easy for companies to formally request taking down videos of any kind, as YouTube showed up repeatedly, so it’s best to learn a thing or two about fair use.

Non-Commercial Use

Non-commercial use basically means that you are making no money out of this content or broadcast. If you are planning on sharing it with some friends for a laugh or comment and not urge your viewers to like and subscribe for more, then you are entitled to use the broadcast in a non-commercial way.

Nature of the Work Copied

So, you want to copy the game or a few amazing plays? That’s fine. Though the teams own the players and the channels have the broadcasting rights, getting thrilled at some of the plays belongs to everyone. Now, it’s somewhat different if you were planning on broadcasting the commentary as well. The commentary is something else – you have stumbled upon intellectual property. However, there is a way out of it.

Transformative Use

Transformative use means that you are indeed sharing the content that belongs to someone else, but you are changing it to such an extent that it turns into your own creation. You broadcast the game, but offer your thoughts on the plays and the analyses of the future matches.

The same goes if you are planning on making a list of the most amazing goals or the biggest blunders out there. If you sufficiently change what is being shown, you can upload soccer videos without fearing any repercussions.

However, you need to be careful if you are planning on doing something humorous. While your video may be fair game copyright-wise, defamation charges are not something you should ignore. Tread lightly.

The Amount

Naturally, you can’t upload the entire match and expect no one to care. Copyright issues arise with the portion of the content shared. The bigger the video size of one particular match, the bigger the chances of it being taken down. Limit your sharing to a few plays worth watching and ignore the rest.

A Word of Caution

Copyright regarding things posted online is still in its infancy. Many companies will try and limit all of the content they are not happy with or which can earn them a lot of money. Fair use is a very subjective term and logarithms used by online platforms are still not fine-tuned enough to make sound calls.

The list in this piece serves more as a guideline than a definite rule. It is a good idea for your shared video to abide by the advice shared here, but it is still no 100% guarantee that your video won’t be taken down on copyright claims.