A Brief Introduction About the Video Licensing Agreement
A Video licensing agreement is made between a video’s copyright owner (this could be the creator / the firm funding its production) and another user. The license could be exclusive (for use by one organization for the duration of the license) or non-exclusive (could be used through multiple organizations at any time).
Who Takes the Video Licensing Agreement?
This agreement is an agreement that is made between a video’s copyright owner (this could be the creator / the firm having funded its production) and another user. Depending on the nature of the intended use between both parties, a video licensing could be exclusive (for use by one organization for the duration of the license) or non-exclusive (could be used through multiple organizations at any time).
Purpose of the Video Licensing Agreement
This agreement states the exception of sole legal ownership for the proposed use of the video (online, broadcast, corporate, and promotional). Registering your work allows you to file a lawsuit towards enforcing copyright in federal court.
Contents of the Video Licensing Agreement
Generally, in the form of written consent, a Video license is provided to the third party through the copyright holder for the use of their video. The agreement could stipulate a price paid for the license, restrict the video’s use in content and period, and the intended broadcast viewers (national or international television, radio, web, live events, etc.).
Accepting a Video license could be as simple as requesting a click when signing up towards any online hosting service. In a few other cases, clear details of the intended users are requested, as well as follow up on afterward.
How to Draft the Video Licensing Agreement?
Relying on the resources utilized for making make the video, its proposed use, the nature of the content, as well as the usual laws encompassing the supply and demand, the rate of licensing video could differ tremendously.
Giving a single pricing guide is not possible, as a large number of variables could affect the price. The same content could be licensed for diverse uses for different prices in different areas. Common variables comprise the delivery format (SD, HD, 4K video), the proposed target audience (local, national, regional, worldwide), the intended usage (commercial, non-commercial, educational, charity) as well as the license duration (1, 2, 5 10 years or perpetual).
The Most Common Licenses used in order to license video content are
- Fixed License Fee: When you buy a fixed license fee, you are permitted to make use of the content for a certain amount of time and within a particular territory. If the original content is broadcasted online through an SVOD or AVOD platform, you may not be required to report the success or otherwise or share the revenue you received from it.
- Revenue Share: When you have the license towards a content that is used to generate revenue (like monetized YouTube videos or by means of other SVOD or AVOD platforms), then both you as well as the copyright holder could take share the revenue in accordance with the agreement that both parties signed.
- Minimum Guarantee Revenue Share: As the name suggests, when you buy a minimum guarantee license, you generally agree to pay the copyright holder some amount of revenue (in a few cases, upfront). This is generally followed through additional revenue share relating to the content which licenses you bought over-perform.
- Pay Per View: Pay per view license needs you to pay a fixed amount of fee towards the copyright owner of the content for each view that it receives.
Negotiation Strategy
To be a good negotiator, you must be able to:
- Understand your requirements from a negotiation.
- Understand the position of the company.
- Demonstrate integrity.
- End negotiations and not accept poor terms.
One cannot impose financial terms that the company deems less affordable. Most licensing agreements are formed due to mutually acceptable ways of getting what they want. However, in cases where there may be no possibility of an acceptable agreement, the only way to keep control is to withdraw from negotiations if you see no advantage in continuing them.
Benefits & Drawbacks of the Video Licensing Agreement
The benefits:
- Infringement Lawsuit: Registering your work allows you to file a lawsuit towards enforcing copyright in federal court.
- Evidence of Validity: licensing agreements Also, a well-written Video licensing agreement and valid evidence of your copyright towards a certain work are always beneficial.
- Statutory Damages and Fees of the Attorney: registering your work means you can claim statutory damages and attorney’s fees.
- Public Record: when you register your work, the public would be able to see that it is secured by copyright and that you are the copyright owner.
Drawbacks:
This agreement could be expensive at times. Also, this agreement is required to be established under the terms of a legally binding contract which is made between the content owners and users, and each agreement differs depending on the requirements of the content owner and users.
What Happens in Case of Violation?
If the parties in this agreement are not able to amicably resolve any dispute(1) arising under or relating to this Agreement, such dispute would be adjudicated in an appropriate state or federal court.
In case you plan on dedicating the content to others for the content used in private studies as well as non-commercial activities, you must claim the copyrights for your works. Most federal and state law needs everyone to seek permission for the copyright owners for any intent to use or share content that you didn’t create yourself.