The law is changing....
Viacom has filed suit against YouTube.
Evidently, people have been posting pirated movies on YouTube, and this upsets the income stream for Viacom. On 13 March 2007, Viacom filed a copyright infringement suit against YouTube and Google (which owns YouTube), alleging more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom visual media exist on the YouTube site, and 1.5 billion views of those clips. Viacom seeks a minimum of $1Billion in damages and an injunction to force YouTube to stop or limit further infringement.
Ramifications:
(1) If YouTube wins, the rights of copyright owners will be severely imperiled; the ability of copyright holders to control and profit from their works online will be much, much less.
(2) If Viacom wins, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act's ("DMCA") safe-harbor provision for ISPs goes pretty much out the window, jeopardizing the advent of new, innovative ways to deliver online content.
As a backdrop to this, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has made rulings recently to broaden protection for copyright holders.
Stay tuned....
Update: The US District Court for the Southern District of New York (where the case was brought) has ruled that no punitive damages will be awarded in the Viacom v. YouTube case. This is as it should be; YouTube is the conduit for the postings of millions and cannot reasonably be held willfully liable for infringing material, especially if the person uploading that material clicks the button that says that yes, absolutely, they have the right to disseminate the material.
Evidently, people have been posting pirated movies on YouTube, and this upsets the income stream for Viacom. On 13 March 2007, Viacom filed a copyright infringement suit against YouTube and Google (which owns YouTube), alleging more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom visual media exist on the YouTube site, and 1.5 billion views of those clips. Viacom seeks a minimum of $1Billion in damages and an injunction to force YouTube to stop or limit further infringement.
Ramifications:
(1) If YouTube wins, the rights of copyright owners will be severely imperiled; the ability of copyright holders to control and profit from their works online will be much, much less.
(2) If Viacom wins, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act's ("DMCA") safe-harbor provision for ISPs goes pretty much out the window, jeopardizing the advent of new, innovative ways to deliver online content.
As a backdrop to this, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has made rulings recently to broaden protection for copyright holders.
Stay tuned....
Update: The US District Court for the Southern District of New York (where the case was brought) has ruled that no punitive damages will be awarded in the Viacom v. YouTube case. This is as it should be; YouTube is the conduit for the postings of millions and cannot reasonably be held willfully liable for infringing material, especially if the person uploading that material clicks the button that says that yes, absolutely, they have the right to disseminate the material.
posted by Nancy Delain at
12:52 PM
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