What is a copyright?

A copyright is a legal right that protects the author's original content, like movies, TV shows, books, sound recordings, music videos, photographs, published articles and other artistic works. Words and short phrases, such as names, titles and slogans, band names and domain names, are not usually subject to copyright. Neither are ideas or facts themselves. In order for a work to be eligible for copyright protection, it must be contained in a fixed form of expression (you know, like a movie or a song or a photo) rather than simply a concept or idea (since the law doesn't want to dampen your freedom of creative expression).

Who is the copyright owner?

A copyright originally belongs to the author or authors of the work. If it's a "joint work"-in other words, created by two or more authors who intentionally collaborated to create one work-then each author is a co-owner of the copyrighted work and share equally in its ownership. If a work was prepared by an employee as part of his or her job, and/or if it was ordered or commissioned by the employer, it may be considered a "work made for hire," in which case the employer, not the employee, is the copyright owner.

What rights does a copyright owner have?

The Copyright Act gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following: (i) to reproduce the work, (ii) to prepare derivative works based upon the work, (iii) to distribute copies of the work to the public, (iv) to perform the work publicly, and to (v) to display the work publicly.

What does it mean to infringe copyright?

Under the Copyright Act, anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of a copyright owner infringes on the owner's copyright. As an infringer of a copyright, you may be liable to the copyright owner for damages or any profits you made through taking and using the copyrighted work without the owner's consent.

Remember: You may not post copyrighted material belonging to others without obtaining the prior written consent of the copyright owner. It is the policy of Video-Funny.com to terminate, in appropriate circumstances, membership privileges of any member who repeatedly infringes the copyright interests of others.

Protecting Copyrights and Other Intellectual Property.

Video-Funny respects the intellectual property of others, and requires that our users do the same. You may not upload, embed, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any material that infringes any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights of any person or entity. It is Video-Funny’s policy to terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the membership of repeat infringers.

If you believe your work has been copied and posted on or through the Video-Funny Services in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please send to Video-Funny a notification of claimed infringement with all of the following information: (a) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (b) identification of the claimed infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material on the Video-Funny Services (providing the URL(s) of the claimed infringing material satisfies this requirement); (c) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address; (d) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; (e) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notification is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf; and (f) your physical or electronic signature.                                                         

Please also note that under Section 512(f) of the US Copyright Act any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity is infringing may be subject to liability.