People Copyright Videos Sites Youtube Video Sharing Share Create

Video-sharing websites like YouTube.com have created an easy way for people to share videos with each other. People are only supposed to share videos only if they created them or if they own the "copyright" (legal permission to use something) to them. Unfortunately, many people use the sites to share videos when they don't own the copyright.

When someone shares a video without owning the copyright, he or she is "committing" (doing something illegal) a copyright "violation" (breaking a law or rule). When people create accounts on YouTube and other sites, they have to "accept" (agree to) a contract that specifically says they shouldn't do this, but some do it anyway. YouTube and other sites can't "prevent" (make it impossible for people to do something) copyright violations, but they can do things to stop the video-sharing once they have identified a problem.

YouTube and other sites often "handle" (deal with) copyright violations by "pulling videos," deleting them or taking them off of their website so that other people cannot view or download them. They might give the "user" (the person who "uploaded" (put on a website) the video) a "warning" (a statement that one has done something wrong and should not do it again). If the user continues to commit copyright violations, then his or her account might be deleted. Of course, he or she can always create a new account, so this is only a temporary solution.

The person or company who owns the copyright could "sue" (bring to court) the copyright violator, but this is unusual because it is too expensive. Instead, some copyright "holders" (owners) want to sue YouTube and similar sites. But those sites argue that they have only create a video-sharing website and cannot be "held accountable" (blamed and punished) for how people use it.