Is it illegal to rip dvd movies and air them on youtube? Are there any copyright laws for this?

Question: I bought a DVD of one of my favorite old movies, and I want to share the movie on YouTube, because not many people have seen it.  Is that legal?

Response:  Simply “ripping” (copying a file off of a physical disc) the movie and uploading it to YouTube is most likely copyright infringement.

The Copyright Act of 1976 (the copyright laws of the United States) gives the creator of a work five exclusive rights:  the right to make reproductions of the work; the right to publically display the work; the right to publically perform the work; the right to distribute the work; and the right to make or authorize derivative works based on the original.  If someone exercises one of those exclusive rights without the permission of the copyright holder, that person is committing infringement unless one of the exception provisions of the Copyright Act provides a defense.  There are some categories of uses that are permitted provided that certain criteria are met, and “statutory licenses,” which allow an infringer to pay a set fee for the use of the material, even without specific permission from the creator.  However, the broadest vehicle for defending an infringement suit is the fair use provision.

Fair use allows uses of a copyrighted work by someone other than the copyright holder for reasons that advance the causes of sharing information within society, such as parody, education, and criticism.  A use will be fair under the statute if a balancing among four factors indicates that it is the kind of use that fair use is meant to encourage.  The four factors that the Copyright Act directs courts to consider are: the purpose and character of the use (including whether it is commercial and whether the derivative work is transformative); the nature of the work (i.e. whether it is fiction or non-fiction); the amount of the work used in relation to the whole; and whether the derivative work can replace the original work in the market.

Posting the video on a file-streaming website is distributing the work without permission, so it would be infringement unless fair use applies.  Even though posting a video on a file-streaming website is not necessarily commercial (although the websites themselves are for-profit), the video is not being transformed.  It is still meant for entertainment purposes.  Further, since the entire movie would be posted, it would be a complete substitute for the DVD in the market, which could prevent consumers from purchasing the DVD themselves.

Before posting a copy of someone else’s work on the internet, you should consult a lawyer to determine if the use you have in mind is covered by one of the exceptions in the Copyright Act.  If you proceed without consulting an attorney, you may open yourself up to a costly lawsuit.

Answered by Kristen Lawfer

Additional Resources: Copyright Laws

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