Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

First, the term "illegal" is imprecise, and can cover wrongs as serious as treason, felonies, misdemeanors (jail stuff), traffic infractions, parking tickets, negligence, and breach of contract, stuff you can be sued for but not imprisoned or even fined. Next, not every act or omission for which you can be sued and found liable is described in a written statute or ordinance. Some stuff is wrong because the courts have found, over and over, that victims of such wrongs may sue and recover damages.

Copyright law is codified as Title 17 of the United States Codes, and provides for money damages and civil and criminal penalties, injunctions, and seizure of infringing goods.

An action based on copyright infringement may require that the original work be registered, but not always. Creators of artistic or creative works generally also have common-law rights to control re-use of their work without registration. The materials on various Web sites such as the one you mention are not always copyrighted, but there is a high likelihood that they are, or that someone may claim they are, requiring you to defend a suit. Copying and reselling a broad spectrum of materials is likely to include something that is infringing and thus illegal.

In addition, there is a principle in the common law of torts that one may not profit from commercializing the likeness of another without permission. There is an exception for bona fide news media use. Further, there could be invasion of privacy complaints.

So, I'd say there is an element of risk in doing what you propose. In the past, it was rare to be sued or prosecuted for small-scale infringement or privacy matters, because it wasn't worth while unless the commercial harm done suggested sufficient damages to warrant the costs of suit. Nowadays, copyright holders and celebrities are much more often bringing legal action to defend a principle, or to deter copy-cats.

My colleague above is correct. I wanted to add that copyright exists once an author has created the copyrightable material, which in this case is the youtube clip. However, whether author has the right to bring the case to court (standing) depends on whether the work has been registered with the copyright office. However the author can still register the work after the infringement and still bring the claim. Which means that if the authors learns of the infringing act, they can then register the work and bring the cause of action.

Therefore, unless you have a license agreement from the owners of these video clips, I would recommend that you not continue your efforts as it could potentially be an infringement.

There are defenses to copyright infringement even without a license to the work, like fair use. However, the fair use defense is factually based and you should consider talking to an intellectual property attorney.

Disclaimer: This communication does not create an attorney-client relationship and such a relationship can only be formed through a signed written agreement. This communication is not legal advice and should not be solely relied upon in making your legal decisions. Any situation depends on many different facts and specific laws that require an in-depth legal consultation to evaluate the best solution for your needs.