Could it be considered fair-use to post a censored version of another YouTube video on YouTube?
<p>Regardless of if it is legal to download the video from YouTube in the first place, could it be considered fair-use to upload the video with some parts of the video and audio censored (giving credit to the original author)?</p>

<p>The specifics: I edited Taylor Swift's Shake it Off (titled "Taylor Swift - Shake it Off (censored)") to remove all the twerking as well as the entire bridge in order to make it kid-friendly (as I have kids who love the song and Taylor Swift). I put it on YouTube as a private video and got a ContentID match and after a couple of days didn't receive a Copyright Infringement Notice ... so I went ahead and made it public ... and of course it gets taken down a few days later.</p>

<p>I don't think I'll "fight" it; I'm just curious if there is any case-law out there similar to this situation.</p>

<h1>No, you misunderstand Fair use and infringed copyright</h1>
<p>Fair use only exists if enough of the <a href="https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">four factor</a>s are given for it:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Transformative Factor</li>
<li>The Nature of the Copyrighted Work</li>
<li>The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken</li>
<li>The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market</li>
</ul>
<p>You fail on all of them:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cutting the video does not alter the meaning or expression. which means it is nontransformative and thus against OP.</li>
<li>Music is usually with fictional works, the best you can get here is &quot;neutral*. but I would weigh against OP.</li>
<li>Your Video took the total of the video and nothing else. Against OP.</li>
<li>The full-length Video has a potential market that does include underage children. Your video tried to infringe on that market. Against OP.</li>
</ul>
<h1>ERGO</h1>
<p>You are not enacting Fair Use but infringe copyright.</p>
<h1>Similar case: Vidangel</h1>
<p>Vidangel had been offering films in a censored fashion without the approval of the copyright holders. A court ruled that this is <strong>not fair use</strong> and it was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5-qoJVQeNM" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sanctioned for 65 Million US-dollar.</a></p>

copyright fair-use