AOL Video Guidelines
These guidelines govern all features of AOL Video including user uploaded videos, descriptions, tags, titles and comments.
You must be 18 years of age or older to upload videos. Personal information about minors that come to our attention maybe deleted and may result in termination of your account. If it comes to our attention that you have misrepresented your age, we will delete all material related to your AOL Video usage.
You agree that you will not use AOL to distribute or facilitate distribution of any content -- including text, communications, software, images, sounds, data, or other information -- that:
Violations of these guidelines may result in actions, without warning, that range from removal of content, to suspension of access, to deletion of your AOL and/or AIM Screen Name and all related material, to appropriate legal action.
AOL reserves the right to make changes to these guidelines at anytime and you agree to be bound by any such changed guidelines. Please check these guidelines periodically for any changes.
For additional information, please refer to the AOL Network Terms of Service.
Determination of whether there has been a violation of these guidelines and/or
TOS, and whether any action is warranted, is made by AOL, Inc.
at its sole discretion.
Your publicly uploaded AOL Video videos are available to the Internet at large. Do not post videos that contain information that you should keep private such as your full name, address, or telephone number.
Personal Information: Never reveal your full name, home address, telephone number, place of work or any other identifying information in your uploaded video. And, be careful that information like license plate numbers on cars or images of the outside of your home are not accidentally in the background of a video. This information could help a stranger track you down.
Videos: Videos that you upload to AOL are not only public, but they can be copied and shared by others without your knowledge. They can literally exist on the Internet for years and years after you've deleted them! Ask yourself a couple of questions before you upload a video:
1) Would you be comfortable if someone important in your life were to view the video - a boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance or spouse? What about an admissions counselor or an employer?
2) Have you posted a video of a minor - perhaps your child, grandchild, or other relative? If so, are there any identifying elements in the video or within the title that would enable someone to find them offline?
Passwords: Keep all passwords to yourself. Don't give out any of your passwords. And, remember, always make your password hard to guess.
We want AOL Video to be a fun place for you to express yourself. Please follow these safety tips to ensure your utmost safety when using AOL Video.
The AOL Video Team
AOL Video Copyrighted Content Policy
Copyright Policy: AOL respects copyright, and asks our users to do the same. We make it clear in our Terms of Service and at the time of upload that when you post or upload text, comments, images, video, audio, and other material ("Content"), you may only post or upload Content that you created or that you have permission to post. When using AOL Video, therefore, you agree that you will not upload any Content that infringes on any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity, or other proprietary right of any party. Please work with us to keep our community a positive, safe, and creative outlet for all.
We encourage copyright holders to report infringing videos via the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Take Down process (see our Tips on Reporting Copyright Infringement below), and when they do, we remove videos from AOL Video. We also give users an opportunity to "counter notify" us if they believe that they had the rights to use the Content. We reserve the right to block or terminate user accounts of repeat offenders.
General Copyright Information: As a general rule, if someone creates something completely original, that person is the copyright owner of that "work." Copyright owners generally have the right to control how others use their work. Therefore, if you create something and include portions of another person's copyrighted work in it (example: creating a video with part or all of a song in it), in most cases you must have permission to use that content for that purpose. Therefore, as a general rule, you should not include copyrighted works in your video without authorization. If we receive notice from a copyright owner that you have done so, we are required by law to remove your video from our site, unless and until you can show us that you have the rights or a permissible exception.
One such exception is the very limited doctrine of Fair Use. The Fair Use Doctrine is complicated, and unless you are well versed in this area of the copyright law, you may be putting yourself at risk with respect to copyright owners whose materials you are using. To learn more about Fair Use, we provide some helpful links below, but we caution you to use materials under Fair Use carefully and at your own risk.
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/start/cpyrt/1) A work is not necessarily free for your use just because it does not include a copyright notice.
2) Content is also not necessarily free for your use just because it is easily available on the internet. Look for a license or terms of use, which explain how works you find on the Internet may be used, or just request permission for your intended use.
3) Creative Commons licenses may be helpful depending on the terms of the specific license (there are different ones) and how it may apply to your intended use. Keep in mind that some Content offered under a Creative Commons license may not have been properly obtained, so you may be assuming a risk in using it.
4) Watch out for material in the background of videos; songs, TV broadcasts, audio, artwork, and photos all are likely someone's copyrighted materials.
Examples of Copyrighted Content:
Alternatives to Copyrighted Content: The following are a few examples of resources on the web for content that may be available. AOL does not own these sites or their Content, and does not guarantee that this Content is available for your use. You should read the terms of these and all web sites carefully to be sure that the Content does not contain restrictions for your intended use.
NOTE: The above information is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. You alone are responsible for making sure that the Content you upload does not violate anyone's rights. We present these helpful suggestions for informational purposes only.
Tips on Reporting copyright infringement: AOL respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask those posting to this site to do the same. If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied and is accessible on this site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify us by providing our copyright agent with the following information:
1) the electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or the person authorized to act on the owner's behalf
2) a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed and a description of the infringing activity.
3) identification of the location where the original or an authorized copy of the copyrighted work exists, for example the URL of the website where it is posted or the name of the book in which it has been published.
4) identification of the URL or other specific location on this site where the material that you claim is infringing is located; you must include enough information to allow us to locate the material.
5) your name, address, telephone number, and email address.
6) a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
7) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright
owner or are authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.Our agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on this site can be reached as follows:
By mail:
Dawn Palmer Senior IP Counsel AOL LLC 22000
AOL Way Dulles, VA 20166
By phone:(703) 265-0094
By mail:
Copyright Notice This contact information is only for reporting copyright infringement.