Netflix, YouTube and copyright: what is allowed and what could cost you money

Service page: Digital commerce and AI lawyer: terms, privacy and direct mailing.

What exactly did you buy when you signed up for Netflix?

When you pay Netflix, Spotify or YouTube Premium, you buy a license to watch or listen, not ownership of the content. The license allows you to watch. It does not allow you to download (outside the built-in download function), copy, share or show the content in public.

The Copyright Act, 5768-2007 protects every original work (music, films, television programs, books and photographs) automatically, from the moment it is created. No registration is needed. No © sign is needed. Anyone who infringes these rights without permission infringes copyright even if they did not know; but an infringer who did not know, and should not have known, at the time of the infringement that copyright subsisted in the work will not be ordered to pay compensation (section 58).

Fair use: what does it mean in practice?

Section 19 of the Act defines “fair use”: use of a protected work without permission, which is allowed in certain circumstances. Four criteria are examined together (not each one separately):

• The purpose of the use: criticism, news reporting, research and self-study tend toward permitted use. Use for mere entertainment is less likely to be considered fair.
• The nature of the work: a factual work (news reporting) enjoys weaker protection than an artistic work.
• The amount taken: a short quotation for criticism ≠ copying a whole episode.
• Economic effect: does your use replace the original in the market? If so, the chance that it will be considered “fair” drops significantly.

A practical example: a film review with a 30-second clip is probably allowed. Sharing a whole episode “because it was good” is not.

Downloading for personal use: is it legal?

The most common question: “May I download for personal use?” The answer: no, if the source is not permitted. Downloading from a pirate site is prohibited even for personal use. Downloading from YouTube without permission is also prohibited, even if you want to watch “on a flight without internet”.

By contrast, streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify offer legal downloads for offline viewing: this is part of the license you bought.

Content creators: 4 myths that may cost you on YouTube

Content creators on YouTube, TikTok and social media face copyright infringement accusations more often than you might think. 4 common false myths:

• The “8 seconds” myth: using 8 seconds of music is not “automatically legal”: there is no such rule in Israeli law or in American law.
• The myth “Creative Commons = unrestricted”: CC comes in different types. CC-BY allows use with credit; CC-NC prohibits commercial use. Read the specific license.
• The myth “I gave credit”: credit does not exempt you from liability. Copyright is not waived because the creator’s name is mentioned.
• The myth “AI made it, so there is no problem”: an AI tool that produces music “in the style” of a specific artist is the subject of an active legal dispute. Do not assume this is settled.

Received a takedown notice? What to do

YouTube, Facebook and TikTok themselves are not liable for copyright infringement by users, thanks to the “safe harbor” in American law (DMCA), but the protection depends on the platform acting quickly to take content down after a notice.

Received a Content ID claim from YouTube or a takedown notice? You can file a counter-notice, an appeal against the takedown. This is a formal mechanism that allows you to argue that your use is fair. If you do not respond, the takedown stays.

Israel has no general statutory “notice and takedown” mechanism in the style of the DMCA. Amendment No. 5 to the Copyright Act (5779-2019) added an order restricting access to a website whose main content infringes (section 53A) and a procedure for disclosing the identity of an anonymous user who infringes online (sections 60A–60H). Israeli right holders sometimes file a claim directly in court, without going through the platform.

Common questions: what is allowed and what is not?

• Taking a screenshot from Netflix? A screenshot for personal use is a gray area. Posting a screenshot on social media is probably an infringement.
• Sharing a short clip on WhatsApp with friends? Private sharing in a small group: doubtful. Sharing in large groups that keep forwarding it: the risk rises.
• Uploading a video to TikTok with a song in the background? The platforms’ algorithms will identify the music. The video may be blocked, lose its attribution, or lead to a claim if it is commercial content.
• Showing a film in a classroom? A public performance during the educational activity of an educational institution is allowed under the conditions in section 29, and showing a cinematographic work only for teaching or examination purposes; beyond that, fair use is examined, and it is not automatic.
• Playing Spotify in a store or restaurant? Playing a work in public is a “public performance” (section 13), an exclusive right of the copyright owner in a musical work and in a sound recording (section 11(3)), so it requires the right holder’s permission. A private subscription to a streaming service is usually meant for personal listening and does not include a license to play music in a business. From 20 May 2027, playing by a “very small business” will not be considered a public performance: a business whose annual turnover does not exceed the “exempt dealer” threshold under the Value Added Tax Law, 5736-1975 (חוק מס ערך מוסף, התשל״ו-1975), except a business for which playing works is a significant part of its activity (section 13, as worded from that date).
• A song protected by copyright: until when? A song usually carries several separate rights. As a rule, in the melody (a musical work) and in the lyrics (a literary work), the right lasts for the creator’s whole life and another 70 years after their death (section 38). In the recording itself (a “sound recording”), the right lasts 70 years from the date it was made, or from the date it was published if it was published within two years, subject to the exceptions in section 41. So a song whose melody is no longer protected may still be protected in a particular recording of it.