It is TRUE that one cannot record live raw television broadcasts and stamp a copyright upon them. These, as originally broadcast are, and remain, intellectual property of their producers.

However…when one isolates selected portions from these raw recordings, and captures specific video clips from these, they become that persons’ WORK. Capturing still frame images, creating animated GIFs from those images, adding comments or markings, adding a voice over to a video clip, zooming, and enhancing also amount to WORK done. It is the work, done by an individual, which can be subject to copyright.

In addition, there is what is known as the "8 second rule". This allows the use, for other purposes, of any 8 second clip from copyrighted movies, television programs, radio broadcasts, et cetera.

We’ve all seen parts of films, and videos, used in commercial television news broadcasts and documentaries. If you look closely at the credits following these programs, you will note that the producers are thanked for the raw material, and the new program copyrighted. It works the same for me. I have ALWAYS acknowledged the original sources of my material. But it is ME who does the work to make a presentation concerning a particular part of that original material. For this reason I can, and will continue to, add that little © symbol to my work. So, this too is...

© 2005 Jeff Challender