Answers · copyright myths
Does "no copyright infringement intended" protect you?
Last updated
TL;DR: No. Under U.S. law copyright infringement does not depend on intent: if you copy, post or perform someone's work without permission and no exception such as fair use applies, it infringes whatever your caption says. The disclaimer does not count as a license, crediting the creator is not permission, and saying you don't own the material shows you knew it was someone else's. Intent matters only at the edges, mainly in how much a court can award. What protects you is a license, the creator's permission, public-domain material, or a use that really qualifies as fair use.
What should I check, step by step?
1. Find out who owns the material and what license, if any, it carries (a Creative Commons license, stock terms, the platform's own music library terms).
- If there is a license, follow it exactly: credit where it asks, no commercial use under NC, no edits under ND.
- If there is no license, ask the owner for written permission or use something you can license.
- If you are relying on fair use, weigh the four factors honestly: why you use it (commentary, criticism and parody weigh more than decoration), what kind of work it is, how much you take, and whether your use could replace the original or its licensing market. No fixed number of seconds or percentage is safe.
- Drop the disclaimer: "no infringement intended", "all rights to the owner" and "for entertainment purposes" don't change the analysis, and platforms' automated matching and takedown processes ignore them.
- Keep records of licenses and permissions, with dates, for everything you publish.
Where does intent matter?
Damages: for registered works a court can award statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work, up to $150,000 if the infringement was willful, and down to $200 if the infringer proves they were not aware and had no reason to believe they were infringing (17 U.S.C. § 504(c)). A proper copyright notice on the copy you used can defeat that innocent-infringer argument.
- Criminal liability, which is rare, requires willful infringement.
- Fair use looks at the purpose and character of your use, not at a statement of good intentions.
What about outside the U.S.?
Most countries have no general fair-use defense; they have narrower listed exceptions (quotation, criticism and review, parody, news reporting). A disclaimer helps no more there than in the U.S.
What do the license checks say?
Yes means the license grants the use, on the duties listed. Duties such as source_disclosure, share_alike and network_source_offer are the ones that conflict with keeping a product closed-source.
| Use | Answer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A CC BY-NC 4.0 clip in a monetized video, credited, with a disclaimer (CC-BY-NC-4.0) | No | CC BY-NC 4.0 prohibits commercial_use. Duties: attribution, license_notice, state_changes, no_additional_restrictions. |
| A CC BY 4.0 clip in a monetized video, credited (CC-BY-4.0) | Yes | Every use you described is granted by CC BY 4.0, and nothing you described is prohibited. Duties: attribution, license_notice, state_changes, no_additional_restrictions. |
How do I ask a2ally about this (free, no key)?
Add the MCP server https://www.a2ally.com/mcp to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, Grok or VS Code, then ask: “Can I reuse this CC BY-NC 4.0 clip in a monetized YouTube video if I credit the creator?”
{
"tool": "check_license",
"arguments": {
"license": "CC-BY-NC-4.0",
"intended_use": {
"commercial_use": true,
"redistribution": true,
"attribution_planned": true
}
}
}- ask_a2ally takes the same question in plain English and tells you which license and use it understood.
- attribution_string writes the exact credit line when the license asks for one.
a2ally reads licenses and terms. It does not decide whether a particular use is fair use; that depends on facts only you and, if it comes to it, a court can weigh.
What are the sources?
- 17 U.S.C. § 107: fair use
- 17 U.S.C. § 504: remedies for infringement, damages
- U.S. Copyright Office: Fair Use Index
- U.S. Copyright Office: fair use FAQ
Related
- Is CC BY-NC OK for YouTube?
- Can I use CC BY-NC content in a commercial product?
- Who can file a DMCA takedown?
Not legal advice. JSON · Markdown · All answers
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curl -s -X POST https://www.a2ally.com/v1/accounts/signup -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"accept_terms":true}'
export A2ALLY_API_KEY=rs_... # the api_key from the reply (shown once)
curl -s https://www.a2ally.com/v1/licenses/check -H "Authorization: Bearer $A2ALLY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"license":"MIT","intended_use":{"commercial_use":true}}'