> I have recently been sent a cease and desist letter from a law firm
> representing a celebrity.
First, IANAL, and neither are the youtube employees in this group.
All of the following are my own comments & don't necessarily reflect the
views of my employer (or YouTube) - and I don't work for YouTube/Google.
The only legal comment that I know of relates to ASCAP complaints:
<http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/forum/discussion.html?place=msg%
2Fyoutube-api-gdata%2FUecRTNbjdZ4%2F5cXqX7rudH8J>
> So I am pulling in videos using the youtube api. For the sake of this
> topic let's call this celebrity John Doe. I am telling youtube to
> return videos related to John Doe. Assuming none of the other parts of
> my application infringe on anything, can the lawyer force me to turn
> over all my profit for the app?
I would have thought (again IANAL) that the videos cannot be looked at
in isolation - for example the videos could be shown with text in a way
that might cause damages to the celebrity (even though they might not
individually).
Similarly, if your site appears to be "official", there might be an
implication that all the content (good or bad) is encouraged by the
celebrity - which is something you may want to look at.
Personally, I would find out exactly what their complaint is - is it
copyright infringement, damages to the celebrity (e.g. loss of income),
or something else?
I understand that in some countries, and some states in the US, there
are extra laws regarding use of a person's identity, which allow some
celebrities to be quite protective - it might be worth reading up on how
those apply.
> I didn't upload their content, I'm just using youtube's api and
> monetizing off the app, just how youtube has advised.
The Terms of Service primarily describe what you have to do to be
allowed (by YouTube) to use their API - and what YouTube will (and will
not) provide in terms of support etc.
I don't personally believe that they reflect any decision about if your
use is legal with regard to other legal entities, or about YouTube
taking extra responsibility.
My only real recommendation is to get a lawyer to advise you on if your
use is legal or not.
Tim Wintle
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