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[LoveOfIP]

I tried to search other posted topics here for this but didn't find one exactly on the spot. I would like to take all precautions on reusing royalty free clip art and videos to be part of a new game which will be for sale for profit. I am taking these from many different websites. Right now I am reviewing each website's Terms of Use to determine if I have permission to reuse. My concern is these Terms of Use docs can sometimes not be exactly clear as to reuse permission. For example, on youtube I believe I need to get the consent of the video owner.

I am taking the high road and would like to give credit with each of my uses to either the website or the clip/video owner, however, I do not believe that just posting a credit is going to get me around getting their permission. Is it more prudent that I just contact each owner and get their permission? Please help as I do not wish to infringe anyone's copyright and wish to do this the right way. Thank you.

[artchain]

You are correct that giving credit is not sufficient to allow you to use copyrighted works.

You are also correct that on sites that host user-contributed content (such as YouTube), the original content creator retains copyright, and you need to contact that person to get permission to use the work...  unless the site has license the content for redistribution.

You also need to be very careful about where you get the content.  There are sites that host content which they claim to be "royalty free", but is in fact stolen. 

It can be quite a mine field.  Even if you are knowledgeable and careful, you can still get end up violating someone's copyright.  Most creative shops and production companies carry insurance (my company has had to use ours a couple of times when we've made significant errors on licensing).