Hey creators, let’s talk about the Copyright Match Tool, a feature that helps you protect your original content and manage your copyright options. First, let’s walk through how the Copyright Match Tool works. The Copyright Match Tool helps protect your content by automatically finding videos that are the same or very similar to your own and giving you choices for what to do with them.
It uses the same matching technology as Content ID, but it’s easier to manage and requires fewer resources. There are 3 ways to gain access to the tool: first, if you’re in the YouTube Partner Program; second, if you’ve been granted access through the Copyright Management Tools application; and third, if you’ve removed a video through the Copyright takedown request form.
If you’re in the YouTube Partner Program or were granted access through the Copyright Management Tools application, the Copyright Match Tool will scan for full re-uploads of all your videos on other YouTube channels.
Generally, the tool uses the earliest upload date as a way to know which user to show matches to, so it’s important you’re the first one to upload the content to YouTube.Note that the tool will look for matches for all of your Public, Unlisted, and Private videos.
The Copyright Match Tool is also available to any creator who’s submitted a valid copyright takedown request through our web form. Once your removal request is approved, the Copyright Match Tool starts scanning youtube uploads for potential matches.
Note that in this case, the tool will specifically look only for matches of the video or videos that you submitted the takedown request. Now let’s walk through how you can review your matches and what actions you can take.
To see if you have any matches, go to YouTube Studio and then Copyright. If you do have matches, you’ll see them in the Matches tab. Note: If you don’t see this tab, it either means you aren’t eligible for the tool or that we haven’t detected any matches of your content.
If you do have matches to review, we’ll show you some information about the matches like the view count of the video, when it was uploaded, the subscriber count of the channel that uploaded the potential match, and the percentage that the upload matches your original video.
You can filter matches by total views, or by the number of subscribers the other uploader has. Note that the tool is meant to find full or nearly-full matches to your videos. So if someone used a short clip of your video, it may not be surfaced. Also, keep in mind that just because we’ve found a matching video doesn’t mean it’s infringing on your copyright.
It’s your responsibility to review each matching video to determine whether it’s valid and to consider if fair use, fair dealing, or other copyright exceptions apply before submitting a takedown request. If you do find a match and want to take action, you have three choices: Archive, Request Removal, or Contact Channel.
Archive removes the match from your Matches tab and moves them to the Archive tab. The matching video itself isn’t deleted or affected. Request Removal opens our takedown web form so you can submit a takedown request for the matching video. There are two takedown options: Scheduled, which sends the uploader a seven-day notice Standard, which requests immediate removal once the takedown is validated.
Note that when you fill out the takedown form, you’ll also have the option to automatically prevent copies of your video from being uploaded to YouTube, which means they won’t show in the Copyright Match Tool as matches, but rather will be automatically prevented from being uploaded in the first place.
After submitting your takedown request, you can track it in your Removal Requests tab. Once the request status shows as Resolved, you can check if there were any matches by clicking into the expanded view of the original removal request, and then View Matches to see a filtered view of potential matches for that particular piece of content.
And finally, Contact Channel lets you send an email notification to the uploader of the matching video. The email is pre-written for you and lets the uploader know that you’ve noticed your content in their video. It also gives them your email address in case they want to continue the conversation with you.
You can find past emails you’ve sent in your messages tab. Note that if you want to Archive or Request Removal in bulk, you can do so by checking the box next to multiple videos. To help you stay updated when new matches are found, we’ll send you bell notifications on your channel page to alert you. Note that misuse of the Copyright Match Tool may result in loss of feature access or termination of your YouTube account or partnership.
Misuse includes intentional or repeated abuse of the copyright takedown process. For more information on the Copyright Match Tool, check out the Help Center article linked in the description. Thanks for watching!