Staff Blog / Copyright Match on Vimeo
###### UPDATE – 5/23/14 ######
This blog post is receiving lots of comments and questions — thanks everyone for the feedback! We will respond to as many as possible, but we can’t get to all of them. So…
• We’ll continue updating our FAQ with answers to common questions: vimeo.com/s/aby
• You can contact us directly here: vimeo.com/help/contact **
Also, some Vimeans have described a use case that they’re concerned will be affected by Copyright Match: Uploading private videos for the purpose of temporary client review.
We want to support the creative process, and Copyright Match wasn’t intended to hinder these efforts. So we’re going to work on changing the system to better support this. While we work on this, we are going to temporarily suspend Copyright Match scanning for private videos in Plus/PRO accounts.
We’ll post another update as soon as we have a longer term solution in place. Thanks again for your honest feedback and passion for making sure that Vimeo remains the best place for artists and creative professionals on the Web! <3
** If you email us, please note that we have limited support over the weekend and Monday is a US holiday. A member of the Vimeo Community Team will respond to every single inquiry as soon as possible!
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Original post:
Today Vimeo is introducing a new system called Copyright Match that will help us ensure that the videos on our platform follow our Community Guidelines when it comes to respecting the copyrights of other artists and creators.
Why this? Why now?
The first rule of Vimeo has always been: upload only your own videos. Vimeo is a home for original work — not for rips of movies, TV shows, music videos, and sports broadcasts. We encourage creativity and innovation, and we always want to respect everyone who expresses themselves artistically.
Over the last nine years, Vimeo has grown into one of the most visited video destinations in the world. We now have more than 26 million registered members, with over 170 million people swinging by monthly to watch awesome videos. At our size, we need a semi-automated system to help us enforce those beloved guidelines.
And so Copyright Match is a technical solution to an issue that affects many content-sharing services. Namely: we want people to be able to express themselves in the ways they see fit, but we also want to respect the boundaries of copyright law and the rights of other creators.
The launch of Vimeo On Demand, our open platform that enables creators to distribute their work worldwide, makes it all the more important for us to ensure that proper permissions have been obtained before the work is made available for purchase.
Striking the right balance
Similar copyright-detecting systems are already in place on other video and audio-sharing platforms, but they’ve proven to be double-edged swords.
On the one hand, these systems help protect artists by cutting down on infringing uses of their works. Which is a good thing! On the other hand, the systems can stifle creativity by blocking material that’s being used with permission or that qualifies as a “fair use” under copyright law.
Vimeo cherishes creative expression and artistic freedom above all, so we put a lot of time and effort into making Copyright Match simple and friendly to creators, as well as into mitigating many of the issues common to other copyright-detecting systems.
How Copyright Match works
When you upload a video to Vimeo, Copyright Match “fingerprints” a sample of its audio to see if it matches that of certain third-party copyrighted material, such as songs, movies, and TV shows.
If we find a match, we’ll present you with a few simple options. If you believe your video follows our guidelines, you can quickly and easily appeal the match by providing Vimeo’s moderators with more information. You can tell us that you’re using the material with permission, that your use of the material is protected by “fair use” (more on that below), or that our Copyright Match system made a mistake.
You also have the option to replace the video file, delete the video, or, in the case where a music match is detected, swap the audio with a track from the Vimeo Music Store. (By the way, we’re working to expand our library of licensable music, so stay tuned. Pun completely intended.)
Fingerprinting technology & privacy
To implement Copyright Match, we partnered with Audible Magic, a leading provider of content identification services.
We do not provide any of your personal information, or your videos, to Audible Magic. Rather, we take an audio “fingerprint” of a sample of your video and pass along a digital file containing that fingerprint. Audible Magic then returns the results to us: whether or not there’s a potential match, and, if there is a match, the name of the copyrighted work in question. (This all happens in a matter of seconds, by the way.)
During this brisk exchange, neither Vimeo nor Audible Magic shares information about any match with a copyright holder. However, if you file an appeal regarding your use of a copyrighted work, we reserve the right to share some of the information from your appeal for purposes relating to rights enforcement.
More about fair use
You can re-use third-party copyrighted material in your own work when you have obtained full legal permission and when your use is covered by the “fair use” provision of copyright law.
Unfortunately, the law doesn’t provide a clear-cut formula for fair use. Instead, it turns on a case-by-case application of four factors, which may be weighted differently depending on the facts.
To help our creators navigate these sometimes confusing concepts, we've added resources to our Help Center devoted to fair use, so you can make an informed determination about whether your work might be protected.
Keep in mind that Vimeo can’t tell you for sure whether your work would qualify as fair use. You must make that determination for yourself and at your own risk. However, we will do our best to help you understand the four factors, and if you can present a strong case for fair use protection, you’ll be better protected from claims of copyright infringement and have a stronger case for appeal.
We’ve got your back
In addition to our fair use resources, you’ll find answers to many questions about Copyright Match and other fun topics in our new and improved Legal FAQs:
vimeo.com/help/faq/legal-stuff
If you have any suggestions for how we can improve or expand these resources, we’d love to hear from you. Simply click the “Was this helpful?” button under any FAQ to rate the question and leave your feedback.
And if one of your videos gets flagged by Copyright Match, don’t panic! You’ll receive an email with easy instructions to follow. If you’re not sure how to proceed, we’ve got your back: Simply reply to the email and a member of the Vimeo Community Team will get back to you ASAP.
Thanks for helping us maintain a community where creative expression thrives and the rights of all creators are respected!
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673 Comments
Bob Tabor PRO
That's fine. I have no problem with any of this.
However ...
What about protecting your CUSTOMERS from others infringing on THEIR copyrighted material? In other words, when I upload a video, I would love to have the same courtesy you are giving to those companies who spend a lot of money on lawyers. The fact is I am your customer. I'm paying you money. Why are you not protecting ME?
Darnell Witt Staff
Hey Bob- A few things:
1) We’re about to expand our legal FAQs with more information for creators (a.k.a. customers!) about how to protect their work and what to do when their videos are stolen. I'll post a link here when those are live.
2) You can help protect your work by registering it with Audible Magic and other copyright detection services.
3) If any of your work is stolen and re-posted on Vimeo, you can file a DMCA takedown notice and we’ll respond promptly: vimeo.com/dmca. Most major platforms have a similar process.
Bob Tabor PRO
Fair enough. Thank you.
For those who are interested, this is the link to register your content in Audible Magic. If you are aware of other similar services, I would be glad to know their names:
audiblemagic.com/content-registration/
Mae B. Films Plus
I'm assuming you have to contact audible magic so that they'll send you the free "fingerprinting" software? I don't see where you can download anything besides an instruction pdf.
Darnell Witt Staff
We're going to add some more in-depth instructions for this soon. In the meantime, Bob, we added some FAQs here to help creators understand their rights and options in situations where their content has been used without permission: vimeo.com/s/aba
Sean Abouttown
I'm confused as to why you would continue to offer a "private" service when it isn't private anymore. Part of the reason I use a PRIVATE PAID ACCOUNT is because I create adult entertainment ads. It's none of your business what is in them as it is not made public.
Either you offer a private service or you don't. When you do, you extend the privilege of PRIVACY. When I make my Adam4Adam account for hooking up, it is PRIVATE. If I want to reveal it to someone I will. It is my discretion.
I fully understand you are trying to curt-tail infringement but I'm not paying for a judge and jury. You can bet your bananas you're going to feel a hit from this. It's your own damn fault for not screening public videos in the first place. I've seen more infringing videos for Kickstarter on here than anything. You should seriously consider user's privacy.
This is nothing short of an outrage to those of us that need this service. It's an insult. I USED to recommend Vimeo!
Rob Daven PRO
I just hope this doesn't turn into the crap show like that "other" big video services system.
One thing I'd wonder about... I have a license for royalty free stock footage & music. On the "other" big service, my work was flagged, and even though I provided all the proper legal documents to backup my legitimate claim, the faceless system kept telling me that I didn't have the proper licensing.
I hope Vimeo (which I sing praises about to my content creating friends) has a better system in place other than saying "No." and not clarifying exactly what the issue is.
Sean McGilvray Staff
We worked hard to build a simple and friendly appeals process. If a video with licensed material gets flagged, you can easily appeal the match and let us know you’re using the work with permission. All appeals are reviewed by real human beings (with faces), and if you’re unclear why we took a particular action you can email our moderators directly to ask questions and provide additional info. We won’t be able to grant every appeal, but we definitely don’t want to keep out videos that don’t actually infringe anyone’s copyright.
Andrew Reid Plus
Can you describe in more detail what a match would involve exactly? Is it a case of video muted or offline, until a mandatory appeals review is completed in X number of days? Or is it a case of clicking 'fair use' and proceeding as normal with the video online at Vimeo for all to see immediately when it is uploaded? It isn't clear whether a match sends you to the appeal automatically in all cases it occurs and not very clear at all what the status of the video is whilst an appeal is being done. And what if the appeals staff have half a million matches to work through in 30 days. How is that gonna work exactly? All music is copyright and there's a lot of music on Vimeo content isn't there!?
Sean McGilvray Staff
If the Copyright Match system detects third-party copyrighted material it will halt the upload and present you with a few options: appeal, swap out the music, or replace/delete the video file. If you choose to appeal, the video will be available for most users while the appeal is pending. If the appeal is denied, the video is deleted. We've worked hard to make the entire process as easy to use and efficient as possible, but we will definitely be happy for feedback once you've experienced it.
Limited Edition PRO
Is there a way to search Audible Magic? Not all artist put restrictions on using there work so it would be nice to know if there's a clear way to search artists and even licence there work through audiblemagic.com
MR FILMS Plus
Just finished a video for a client and now I can't put the video online because of Copyright Match.
" We can’t post your video just yet because our Copyright Match system detected third-party copyrighted material "
so now I'm done with VIMEO ?? that was it ? spend hours and hours to edit the video with the music and now I have to change the music ??? no WAY
MR FILMS Plus
... this is sooo frustrated ...
Ashley
After working a week on a personal family video that I added music to it got denied based on this new copyright match. How incredibly frustrating! I've used you guys since 2009 and have always been really happy with the site but no longer am. Time to switch to a different site!
MSFilm Plus
Good bye VIMEO! STOP taking money for plus and pro - put some ADDs like YouTube and stay alive with no blocking copyrights system otherwise RIP. In my opinion this system will kill Vimeo fast. Time to go back on YouTube or invest money in own file hosting on website.
KO Productions Plus
Soooo, to add to my frustration with this feature, I posted a video which was flagged, submitted my fair use appeal, and at 3:56pm MDT received simultaneous emails from Vimeo saying the appeal was denied and the video had been deleted, and the second stated that my appeal had been accepted with the little button to go to my video. Naturally, the video is no longer there, and I very much appreciate the headache. The "Love, Vimeo" at the bottom of the message is definitely not what I'm looking for while I'm being jerked around. I don't understand why Vimeo can't adopt the model YouTube is using for most of their music and allow music to stay in the video with a link to purchase the song posted below. I'm a one man band/High School video teacher. Most of my content is used in the educational arena and I'm not looking forward to appealing every video we upload on this page and my Central Intelligence page.
This is lame.
Love,
Me
George Morgan Plus
Good bye VIMEO! STOP taking money for plus and pro - put some ADDs like YouTube and stay alive with no blocking copyrights system otherwise RIP. In my opinion this system will kill Vimeo fast. Time to go back on YouTube or invest money in own file hosting on website.
Ross Bazeley Plus
Wanted to get a video to a client for a 9am meeting tomorrow. It's nearly midnight and I can't play the video because I'm apparently using copyrighted material I've never even heard of. I have contacted the vimeo support team but I'm refusing to go through any legal appeal when it's clear there is something wrong with the system. I've re-uploaded the same video in the hope that this one will play. So far so good but I'm not impressed with this experience. If this is the future of vimeo then I might have to take my custom elsewhere as it's not client friendly for my business.
DCabral15
I spent 3 days editing an iMovie of my daughter's birthday for my family overseas to see it. Oh wait I can't because I use a song from an artist. How about if you charge me for the use of the song and pay the artist instead of asking me to switch for the songs you have here. Vimeo is useless....
Adam Royer Plus
Well, Vimeo was a nice alternative while it lasted. I've been a loyal member—and advocate—since 2009. I won't be continuing my Plus subscription unless this shenanigans gets resolved. Not letting me upload a video with music solely for me to show my friends and family? Ridiculous!
FYI: Your Music Store selection is no good to me.
Love,
Me