By Cheryl S. Ntumy

(AXcess News) washington - There are millions of remix videos on YouTube, according to the video-sharing Web site, and about 80,000 mash ups.

Remixes, mash ups and other reworked versions of copyrighted content make up an enormous part of the material posted on Web-sharing sites. Some are legal, some are not, and experts say many users may not know the difference.

Now, creators of online videos can find out how they can use copyrighted material without breaking the law.

The Center for Social Media at American University here released a code of best practices for online video creators Monday. The code, coordinated by professors Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, is part of a larger project and gives six examples of accepted use of copyrighted material.

Aufderheide, director of the Center for Social Media, said the code's creators believe it is important for people who make online videos to know that fair use can apply to their work. Fair use is the right to reproduce or authorize reproduction of copyrighted material for certain purposes, such as comment or criticism.

Aufderheide said fair use has become more important in the age of video-sharing Web sites than it was in years past but is defined in a "vague and general way," making it difficult for people to understand.

"The rules, really, are not established," she said of video-sharing and the uploading of online material.

American University conducted a study involving interviews with people who upload online video. The study found that many of those interviewed were "universally under-informed and misinformed" about copyright laws. Despite these individuals' lack of information, the study revealed that most participants took an interest in copyright issues and wanted to stay on the right side of the law.

Jaszi, co-director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at the Washington College of Law at American University, said cyberspace is often portrayed as a "lawless realm," but "I don't think that's what the study shows."

More than a year ago, media conglomerate Viacom sued YouTube for copyright infringement after users posted videos of Viacom-owned shows. The case is ongoing, but a July 1 ruling gave Viacom access to YouTube's user records.

Michael C. Donaldson, an attorney based in Los Angeles, who worked on the code of best practices, said he was surprised by the ruling, but didn't think it would have a major effect on users yet.

"These kinds of cases just aren't going to shed much light on what users can or can't do," he said of high-profile cases.

A more influential case, he said, was the one in which Yoko Ono sued Premise Media Corp., C&S Production LP and Rocky Mountain Pictures for using John Lennon's song "Imagine" in a film. The judge found in favor of the filmmakers based on fair use.

The American University study covered not only the rights of those whose work is borrowed for use in video and audio clips, but also the rights of those who post original material.

Jaszi said people needed to better understand "their rights as makers, their rights as owners and the limits on their rights as owners."

A group of lawyers and scholars met over six months to create the code, which has been made available on several Web sites.

"Our entire universe of expression has become copyrighted," Aufderheide said, adding that if creativity and the production of new culture is to be encouraged, fair use has to be put into practice.

YouTube is going to display the code on its Web site, Aufderheide said. The Web site will make the code accessible to users whose videos have been flagged by a copyright holder or other user for containing unlicensed copyrighted content.

"This code of best practices will protect an emerging creative zone - online video - from de facto censorship," Aufderheide said in a press release. "Creators, online video providers and copyright holders will be able to know when copying is stealing and when it's legal."

Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire