Re-use of video content is making some progress in the advertsing world:

Kevin Schaff recycles ads that cost anywhere from $50,000 to more than $1 million to produce, pitching them on the cheap to small businesses that can’t afford the costly brainstorming, writing, filming, actors and editing that original productions require.

He’s just reselling entire ads right now, removing references to the original clients and replacing them with the references to the new clients. I’d imagine that if Mr. Schaff had software that could recombine individual pieces of the original ads to create new ads, he’d be able to serve a lot more customers.

Of course the lawyers are already licking their lips:

Anytime anyone has copyrighted material someone else uses without their full knowledge and sign-off, you have a problem.