Here is an example that youtube provided at a recent TED conference.

How YouTube handles Copyright Infringement

When you upload a video to YouTube, it is automatically scanned through youtube’s identification tool which ensures that the video or audio portion of the video doesn’t infringe anyones copyright.

If the YouTube software determines that the uploaded video may contain copyrighted content, it won’t immediately take down the video but will let the copyright owner decide the fate of the video. The owner may either ask YouTube to permanently remove the clip or they can use the monetization option where YouTube will run ads alongside the video.

How Sony ‘Cashed In’ on a Wedding Video

When Jill and Kevin uploaded their wedding ceremony video to YouTube, they would have never guessed that their dance routine would go on to become one of the most popular videos on the web with over 51 million views.

There was however, one problem. The background music (Forever by Chris Brown) that was used in the wedding video was copyrighted to Sony Music and therefore Sony had an option early on to get that video removed from the YouTube website.

Sony however chose to monetize the video, and added affiliate advertising to the video allowing YouTube viewers to purchase that song directly from the iTunes store.

As soon as they did this, that 18-months old song went back to #4 on the iTunes chart.

However, the video’s creator was paid no share of the revenue, albeit they got plenty of publicity.

This interesting case was revealed by YouTube’s Margaret Stewart at TED.