Can I copyright my website?

Can you use a screenshot of a website in a monetized YouTube video or does this violate copyright laws?

• The example here is a video where I am doing commentary on a topic and I record my screen to discuss something written on a website. Can I include those screenshots and talk over them without violating copyright laws?

• Answer:

  Fair Use is a U.S. exception to copyright law that allows limited use in certain conditions. You probably should read up about it on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use. In your case, assuming Fair Use applies to you at all, you seem to fit the four rules. You are using a minimal amount (screenshot, not an full active webpage), for a purpose that is protected (commentary), in a way that does not replace going to the website (which likely changes regularly). My concerns is that your commentary might not directly comment on the webpage. For instance, talking about War in Iraq doesn't really let you show a picture of the NYT front page about the Iraq war starting. A topic does not unlock all copyright content that is also commenting on that topic. You can't post a blog about a celebrity and then get free use of every possible photo of that celebrity. You have to actually be commenting on the content of the actual webpage in some way to use the screenshot.