Have you ever wondered what actions you are permitted to do in connection with a video, or music, or a text document and what actions constitute a copyright violation? Well, you should.

First of all, it is the policy of eSnips, Ltd. to respect the legitimate rights of artists and creators of copyrighted works.

Second, posting copyright infringing content can lead to the termination of your account.

Finally, you could be sued for monetary damages if a copyright owner takes you to court.

We hope you will work with us to keep our community a creative and legal experience for everyone. Here are some guidelines to help you determine whether posting material is legal or whether it infringes someone else's copyright.

The best way to ensure the material you upload doesn't infringe someone else's copyright is to simply create your own original work using your skills, imagination and creativity. If it's all yours, you never have to worry about the copyright infringement—you own it! eSnips encourages you to create and post your own works so that others can enjoy them.

Make sure that your work is really ALL yours. For example, if your video uses an audio track of a sound recording owned by a record label, your video infringes the copyright of the record label, unless you received permission from that label. If we receive a notice from that record label, we will disable your folder which contains that video.

• The performer owns the rights to use his or her own image in a video, especially if that performer isn't you!
• The songwriter owns the rights to the song being performed, especially if that songwriter isn't you!
• The owner or owners of the venue where a video is shot may have a say in whether that video can be shown.
• If you tape a clip from another source, it usually violates someone’s copyright. It doesn't matter how long or short the clip is. If you taped it off cable, videotaped your TV screen, or downloaded it from some other website, it is still copyrighted, and requires the copyright owner's permission to distribute.
• It doesn't matter whether or not you give credit to the writer, owner, author, cameraman, or songwriter—it is still copyrighted, and you cannot post it without the owner’s permission.
• It doesn't matter that you are not making commercial use of the content, or that you are not charging money for it—it is still copyrighted.
• It doesn't matter whether or not the material contains a copyright notice—it is still copyrighted.
• Just because the text, picture, music or video is posted on the internet does not mean that you can use it—it is still copyrighted.
  

You may have heard of the term “fair use.” Under certain circumstances, you are allowed to make limited use of other people’s copyrighted materials without their permission. This is called “fair use” in the United States. The law varies from country to country, so it is difficult to make generalizations here.

Fair use is a legal principle that defines the limitations on the exclusive rights of copyright holders.

There is no simple test to determine what is fair use so the safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of “fair use” would clearly apply to the situation. Here are some examples of activities that courts in the United States have generally regarded as fair use:

• Quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment
• Quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations
• Use in a parody of a limited amount of the content of the work parodied
• Summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report
• Reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson
• Reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports
• Incidental reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported

It is the policy of eSnips to respect the legitimate rights of copyright and other intellectual property owners. We act in accordance with a law in the United States called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"). Under that law, eSnips has designated a person to receive notices of claimed copyright infringement. If you believe that your copyrighted material is being infringed, please write us with all the details.

When we receive a valid notice that content on our site infringes the copyright of someone else, we will delete the infringing material. Repeated infringement will result in termination of your use of the eSnips service, so please do not post infringing material—we want you to enjoy all the wonderful aspects of the eSnips community for a long time!!