Monetizing Video Game Videos on Youtube

So for anyone who monetizes their video game vidoes on youtube, I have a question: does putting the disclaimer in the description: "I do not own the rights to any of these games, and do not claim any ownership over this footage, other than having recorded it personally." cover me legally? I mean I know they will take down the video if the dev doesn't want it up, but I just want to make sure I'm not going to get in some kind of trouble.

Your best bet would be to scour the licence agreement. If nothing's explicitly mentioned about commercial use, you could try contacting the publisher with an explanation of your intention to use footage (and maybe a promise to present the game in a positive light). From the Youtube guidelines, it looks like short snippets should be okay, but longer segments would need some kind of permission.

In the end, it's probably at the discretion of the publisher what action they would take. I don't imagine they would do much more than to have it taken down, but a disclaimer isn't enough to prevent them taking it up with you personally if you're making money off their product.

I also found this statement on the website of a digital rights organisation:

As far as we know, no typical YouTube user has ever been sued by a major entertainment industry company for uploading a video. We have heard of a couple special cases, involving pre-release content leaked by industry insiders, but those aren't typical YouTube users. And there have probably been a few lawsuits brought by aggressive individual copyright trolls. But no lawsuits against YouTubers by Hollywood studios or major record labels. That's right millions of videos have been posted to YouTube, hundreds of thousands taken down by major media companies, but those companies have not brought lawsuits against YouTube users.Link

The article's from 2009. While I don't know when monetization was introduced to Youtube, I can't find any information suggesting the situation has since changed.

Putting a disclaimer has no effect on how far a company is willing to go to protect their product. You can still get sued with or without a disclaimer. However, its extremely unlikely for you to get sued and you will more than likely only face a cease and desist to take down the video. In 99% of cases, your video will be ignored by companies.

"Monetizing" your videos very much so means "attempting to make money from." You can't "monetize" to promote your videos. Paying to increase the views of your videos just means "promoting."

Whether you are actually monetizing or promoting has no actual bearing on your ability to get sued. The whole "not doing it for profits so im legally in the clear" is a myth. If you did not make money, a company cannot sue for damages but you can be sued for infringement in either case.

To be honest, I would not worry about any kind of litigation. You'd be way too small fry to be of any note.

You can't use the "fair use" excuse anymore so you have to gain commercial rights.Jebus213

Of course you can. Fair use takes into consideration whether it is for commercial or nonprofit purposes, but its a fairly minor consideration. Fair use and for profit are perfectly fine.

[QUOTE="Jebus213"]You can't use the "fair use" excuse anymore so you have to gain commercial rights.XaosII

Of course you can. Fair use takes into consideration whether it is for commercial or nonprofit purposes, but its a fairly minor consideration. Fair use and for profit are perfectly fine.

I'm not sure what you are showing me and i dont particularly care what Youtube's interpretation of fair use is. Fair use, under a court of law, will take into consideration whether it was for commercial purposes or for non-profit, but you can certainly claim fair use (and win the court case) even under the intent to make profit.

[QUOTE="Jebus213"]You can't use the "fair use" excuse anymore so you have to gain commercial rights.XaosII

Of course you can. Fair use takes into consideration whether it is for commercial or nonprofit purposes, but its a fairly minor consideration. Fair use and for profit are perfectly fine.

Nintendo came out and said you can't profit or something to that effect.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/nintendo-claiming-ad-revenue-for-user-created-youtube-videos-6408458