In early September EDNA’s Blogging Corner’s forum debated the legalities of downloading YouTube videos because it’s a violation of YouTube’s terms of service to download.
So I was intrigued that Simon and Matthieu information on YouTube states that:
A copy of a YouTube video may be downloaded under section 28 of the Australian Copywrite act provided that the copy is made solely for educational purposes and the YouTube video is not an infringing copy.
Which motivated me to do some detective work!
Australian Copyright Council
First stop the Australian Copyright Council site on legal issues of use of YouTube in Education and teaching.
It does state under certain conditions under the Section 200AB of the Copyright Act can allow an educational institution to download a YouTube video without infringing copyright. I especially like the part that says if you haven’t read the Terms of Conditions and accepted their Terms of Conditions by signing up with YouTube then their conditions are unlikely to be legally binding on you.
Australia’s Smartcopying site
Next I checked Australia’s Smartcopying site which provides a more detailed discussion on Teacher’s use of YouTube. This site explains that the Flexible Dealing Exception of Section 200AB of the Copyright Act may allow the YouTube video to be copied. But it also states that each educational jurisdiction will need to make their own decision on what is permitted by the Copyright Act in light of YouTube’s terms and conditions.
What does this mean? You need to contact your Local Copyright Manager because interpretation may vary between Government and Non-Government schools in each Australian State or Territory. Here are the recommendations for Western Australia.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Safest bet is to make your own decision based on the most accurate information. Also remember that Copyright laws vary considerably between countries.
Sue Waters 
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