# Fair Copyright Use on YouTube

*Published:* 2025-07-15
*Author:* admin

![](https://bonamark.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/chatgpt-image-jul-15-2025-06_51_56-pm-1024x683.png)There are dozens of videos about fair use for copyright. But what they all lack is the understanding of what the other side of the copyright claim looks like.

My name is Vladimir, and for the last 10 years, I worked in intellectual property and led an IP company, Bonamark.

The Platform Bias Reality
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The first thing that you’ll need to know is that YouTube (or any big platform) is biased. Their main concern is not to be sued. And who is more likely to sue YouTube: an influencer with 10k subscribers or, say, Sony Interactive?

Right, so the rules are bent in favor of copyright owners. And trust me – it’s true for every platform out there. Fair or unfair – that’s how things are.

  
Understanding Fair Use vs. Platform Reality
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Legally, you are allowed to use copyrighted works as long as this use is fair, meaning that you comply with the fair use principles:

- **Purpose and Character of the Use**: Non-commercial, educational, or transformative uses (adding new expression or meaning) are more likely to be considered fair use.
- **Nature of the Copyrighted Work**: Using non-fictional content is more likely to be viewed as fair use than using highly creative works.
- **Amount and Substantiality**: Using smaller portions of the work, especially not the “heart” of the content, support a fair use claim.
- **Effect on the Market**: If the use doesn’t negatively impact the market value of the original work, it’s more likely to be deemed fair use.

The fair use **does not require** that a use be **non-commercial.** You can benefit and earn money from copyrighted works as long as the use meets the overall test.

While this sounds well-defined and easy, it actually is not. Every instance of fair use is decided on a case-by-case basis, so there is no “fair use by default”.

Who Really Decides Your Fair Use Claims?
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So, in every case, someone needs to decide if this was a fair use or not. And we got to the important part:

**On YouTube and other platforms, the copyright owners decide if it was fair use.**

Consider this again: **the copyright owners decide if others can profit from their works**. You see the issue, right? It’s like allowing businesses to decide themselves on how much tax they want to pay.

YouTube and other platforms simply walked away from trying to understand the disputes and act as a mailman delivering messages from one party to another.

You get a copyright claim; you think you used the content fairly. You object. But your objection is reviewed by the very party that sent the original claim! How likely are they to say yes?

Inside the Copyright Claim Machine
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And here are some insights into how it looks like from the other side:

The copyright claim system is highly automated. There are dozens of companies offering full watch packages that track the use of copyrighted content across the globe and send thousands of complaints and takedown notices in minutes.

When you object, the objection gets back to the party, and there is an attorney earning 200$/h. How likely is he to watch your 30-minute video to determine if it’s a fair use? How likely is he to hit a “reject” button?

The more videos are posted every day, the more cases pop up on the platform, and the less likely the copyright owners are to actually look into those cases.

The truth is that the copyright owners are not to blame. The rules were created back then when the only way to use a video was to go live on a national TV station. It just couldn’t adapt to the World Wide Web.

The Scoring System Behind Claims
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Yet, we are here. The copyright infringement tracking systems usually have a kind of scoring: how likely is this particular video to be a genuine threat? And if you use someone else’s copyrighted content, you want those numbers to be as low as possible.

Practical Strategies to Minimize Claims
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Here are my recommendations how to keep out of the red zone:

### Length Matters

1. The shorter, the better. Try using smaller portions of the original work. A 3-4-second cut is less likely to result in a claim than a 10-minute cut.
2. The more changes you add, the better. Edit, add new music, add new meaning, cut & shuffle the video.
3. Interact with the video. Review, explain, criticize!

### Transform Your Content

This won’t guarantee that you’ll avoid all copyright complaints, but it’s making it far more likely that you are allowed to use and monetize your videos.

As the bottom line, YouTube is not a judge or legal platform to decide if your use of content is fair. But still, they have the right to decide what content stays on their platform and leave very little room for negotiation.


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    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "Can I use copyrighted content on YouTube if I'm not making money from it?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "Non-commercial use is just one of the four fair use factors, not an automatic protection. You can actually monetize fair use content legally - the key is whether your use is transformative, how much you use, and if it affects the original work's market value. YouTube's automated systems don't distinguish between commercial and non-commercial use anyway."
    }
  },{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "How long can I use copyrighted content without getting a claim?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "There's no \"safe\" duration - even 3-4 seconds can trigger a claim. The myth of \"10 seconds is always safe\" is false. The key is using the shortest portion necessary for your purpose and making it as transformative as possible through editing, commentary, or criticism."
    }
  },{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "If I dispute a copyright claim, who actually reviews it?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "The same copyright owner who filed the original claim reviews your dispute - not YouTube or any neutral party. This creates a conflict of interest since they're essentially judging whether others can profit from their content. An attorney earning $200/hour is unlikely to spend time analyzing your 30-minute video for fair use."
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  },{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "Why do big companies seem to win copyright disputes more often than individual creators?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "Platforms like YouTube prioritize avoiding lawsuits over fair use principles. A major corporation like Sony is more likely to sue YouTube than a creator with 10k subscribers, so the system is inherently biased toward copyright owners. It's about legal liability, not fairness."
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  },{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "What's the most effective way to avoid copyright claims?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "Use the shortest clips possible, add substantial commentary or criticism, edit the content significantly, and avoid using the \"heart\" of the original work. However, this doesn't guarantee you'll avoid all claims - it just makes your content less likely to be flagged by automated tracking systems."
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  },{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "Are YouTube's copyright decisions legally binding?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "No. YouTube isn't a court and can't make legal determinations about fair use. However, they control what stays on their platform, so their decisions affect your ability to publish and monetize content, even if your use would be considered fair in an actual court of law."
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