--- description: Your hairbrush solo of a Prince song can probably stay on the Internet now title: It Just Got Harder for Copyright Holders to Take Videos Off YouTube image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt409e859f4b1c0dcb/6988639a428a9e6b82ccf1da/gettyimages-117836883.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # It Just Got Harder for Copyright Holders to Take Videos Off YouTube by [Claire Groden](/author/fortune/) ## Claire Groden Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 15, 2015 12:12 PM CUT  US singer and musician Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson) performs on stage at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, on June 30, 2011. US singer and musician Prince (born Prince Rogers Nelson) performs on stage at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, on June 30, 2011.Bertrand Guay—AFP/Getty Images by [Claire Groden](/author/fortune/) ## Claire Groden Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 15, 2015 12:12 PM CUT A U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled on Monday that copyright holders must consider fair use before attempting to take down media, like YouTube videos, that use their material. The decision comes after eight years of legal wrangling in a case colloquially known as the “dancing baby” suit, according to The [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/business/media/youtube-dancing-baby-copyright-ruling-sets-fair-use-guideline.html?hpw&rref=technology&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&%5Fr=0 "undefined"). That suit began when a Pennsylvania mother, Stephanie Lenz, posted a short YouTube clip of her baby dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”–a song for which Universal Music Group is responsible for copyright enforcement. Universal sent YouTube a takedown notice, but Lenz, with the help of the advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation, sued the company for the takedown. The appeals court cleared the suit to advance to trial, while issuing a blow to Universal and other copyright holders. By requiring them to consider fair use, the judge ruled that companies first must determine if the use of the material falls under exception categories like commentary, criticism or news reporting before sending a takedown notice. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4034549/youtube-fair-use/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4034549/youtube-fair-use/"},"headline":"It Just Got Harder for Copyright Holders to Take Videos Off YouTube","datePublished":"2015-09-15T12:12:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:06:36.625Z","description":"Your hairbrush solo of a Prince song can probably stay on the Internet now","url":"https://time.com/4034549/youtube-fair-use/","keywords":["Tech","YouTube","legal","Copyright","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt409e859f4b1c0dcb/6988639a428a9e6b82ccf1da/gettyimages-117836883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Claire Groden"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt409e859f4b1c0dcb/6988639a428a9e6b82ccf1da/gettyimages-117836883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US singer and musician Prince (born Prin","caption":"US singer and musician Prince (born Prin","creditText":"Bertrand Guay—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4034549/youtube-fair-use/","name":"It Just Got Harder for Copyright Holders to Take Videos Off YouTube"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Explains: The Deep Web","description":"The FBI takedown of the online market Silk Road reveals the challenges of regulating the Deep Web. 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