I’ve embedded a number of YouTube videos on my site without contacting the owners for permission!

That’s because the YouTube licence already grants me permission.

Reading the YouTube Terms of Service agreement here, it states that the video creator has granted me a limited license to embed the video simply by leaving the embed option on (which is part of the functionality of the YouTube Service.)

I’ve put that information in the box below, and you can find it on the agreement page about half way down.

License to Other Users

You also grant each other user of the Service a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to access your Content through the Service, and to use that Content, including to reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display, and perform it, only as enabled by a feature of the Service (such as video playback or embeds).

In addition, back in 2012, a number of USA Seventh Circuit district courts ruled there is no copyright infringement. See the articles here and here for more details.

Having noted all the above, if I have used your video on my site that you would like removed, please accept my apologies.

Simply contact me with evidence that you own the video, and I’ll promptly remove it.

For those who don’t object, thanks for giving us some great content!