Copyright

The first rule of copyright

Creators should only upload audio clips that they created or have permission to use. This means that they must not upload without the necessary permission audio clips that they did not make, nor use in their clips content (for example, music recordings, fragments of copyrighted programs, or audio clips created by other users) whose copyright are owned by someone else.

What are copyright exceptions?

Copyright exceptions are laws that allow you to reuse someone else's copyrighted material without permission from its owner, but only under certain circumstances.

In the US, the most popular exception to copyright is fair use. When deciding whether a use is fair, courts consider four factors: the purpose and nature of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the extent and significance of the part used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and the effect of the use on the potential market or the value of the copyrighted work. Some activities that may qualify as fair use include criticism, commentary, and news reporting. Fair use is intended to promote freedom of expression.

Some civil law countries, including many in the EU, recognize more limited exceptions where reuse must fall into certain categories, rather than using weighted factors. The categories defined in Article 17 of the EU Copyright and Related Rights Directive in the Digital Single Market are quotation, criticism, reviews, caricature, parody, and imitation. These words have their usual meaning in everyday language, but they are also enacted into law in each member state and are interpreted by both national courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It is also important to consider the context of use and the purpose of such exceptions to copyright, one of which is to strike a balance between the freedom of expression of creators and the copyright of rights holders.

In some countries, such as Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, there is a hybrid concept of fair dealing. Courts weigh factors similar to fair use, but reuse must fall into certain categories. These categories include quotation (general quotation and quotation for the purposes of criticism, reviews, or news reporting), caricature, parody, and imitation.

Most countries in the world have signed an international treaty known as the Berne Convention, which allows reuse in certain categories, including for citation and news reporting.

While there are some similarities in terms of copyright exemptions around the world, there are still significant differences between each country's laws. There is no one-size-fits-all answer as to whether reuse falls within copyright exceptions, and courts decide the applicability of such exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Our mission at AUDIOLENDER is to give a platform for expression and open the world to everyone. Copyright exceptions play a key role in furthering this mission by supporting the free flow of ideas and creativity. Therefore, we ask that rights holders consider the applicability of copyright exceptions before submitting copyright removal requests. We believe this will strike a balance between respecting the copyright of rights holders and the freedom of expression of creators, which can be protected by exceptions to copyright.

How can rights holders bring claims for copyright infringement?

Everyone has access to AUDIOLENDER's copyright management tools, through which rights holders exercise control over copyrighted material on the platform. We work with rights holders to provide them with appropriate features based on the scale of copyrighted content on AUDIOLENDER and the resources they have dedicated to responsibly managing their content online. Our copyright management suite provides a number of ways in which rights holders can claim copyright infringement.

Webform

The easiest way to remove unauthorized copies of copyrighted content is by manually submitting a copyright notice through our Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint web form. This tool is best for most users – it's accessible to everyone and available in all languages.

> If the webform does not load, please download the audio clip removal request from HERE

After filling it out, send it to the email address listed in Contact Us

Copyright

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