Is the use of default sound tracks provided with the iPhoto slidshow application considered fair use?
Asked by
YoBob (
12846
)
March 21st, 2011
So… I recently got an iMac and have found many of the applications including iPhoto to be nothing short of brilliant. One of the first things I did with iPhoto was to import a bunch of old family photos and then proceeded to use the slide show feature with one of the stock themes. It produced an absolutely beautiful video complete with a nicely matched sound track. Assuming that since this was a stock theme that came with the system anything I produced using the theme would be freely distributable, I subsequently exported and uploaded to YouTube.
I was quite surprised (and mildly annoyed) when I got a message back from YouTube indicating that the soundtrack was copyrighted so my video would be blocked in some areas.
So… who, if anybody, is violating copyright restrictions here:
Apple for including copyrighted material as a default for one of the iPhoto themes?
Me, for assuming anything I put together using the default is freely re-distributable?
YouTube for blocking my content because they identified a sound track that, while it may be copyrighted, Apple is distributing with their iPhoto application and has (presumably) already made a deal with the copyright holder?
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2 Answers
From Apple’s iLife Software License Agreement (pdf link):
“You may use the Apple ant third party audio content… on a royalty-free basis, to create your own original soundtracks for your video and audio projects. You may broadcast and/or distribute your own soundtracks that were created using the Audio Content, however…” no distributing the sound files on their own blah blah blah.
I don’t know what “violating copyright restrictions” means, but it appears to me that Apple has licensed the clip to you, and fair use has nothing to do with the situation. You either infringe on someone’s copyright, or don’t. Google has (correctly) identified the sound clip as copyrighted, and (incorrectly) blocked it on grounds that your use was infringing. Usually, with these sorts of notices, there’s an option to dispute the infringement and get your clip re-instated.
Note that I’m not a lawyer, I’m certainly not your lawyer, and I’m not giving you legal advice — this is just information about copyright from someone who did reasonably well in his copyright class in law school.
From @Dominic‘s info, it sounds like you should be able to post your work on Youtube.
If the following is correct (I have not tried it myself), it looks like you can easily get it back online.
Electronic Frontier Foundation – So My Video Was Removed from YouTube… What Do I Need to Know?
If your video was removed by the Content ID tool, you can submit a “dispute” and get it put back up. This can be done from the “Video ID Matches” page for your videos and requires you to answer a few questions. If you submit a dispute, however, the copyright owner will be notified and will have the opportunity to submit a formal DMCA takedown notice (see below) to get it taken down again. (Link)
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