Amazon permits video book reviews

It had to happen sooner or later: Amazon is allowing customers to upload video book reviews. So far I've been able to find three video reviews for toys and gadgets (apparently all submitted by Amazon employees) but none for books.

It will be interesting to see how closely Amazon polices copyright violations, which have been rampant on video sites such as YouTube. This Amazon video review, for example, posted by an Amazon employee, includes footage from a motion picture without permission. According to a discussion board posting, the reviewer believes the use of the movie clip falls under the "fair use" exemption of copyright law.

According to Amazon's video review guidelines, reviewers must "hold all intellectual property rights" to the video or have the permission from the copyright holder. Reviewers also grant Amazon a "nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual right and license" to distribute the material.

Here's a couple more video reviews from a user in Seattle.

The maximum length of reviews is 10 minutes and the maximum file size is 100 megabytes.

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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors