Viacom's YouTube Lawsuit Revived: Networks Accuse Google Of Copyright Infringement

April 5 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court has revived lawsuits by Viacom Inc, the English Premier League, and various film studios and television networks accusing Google Inc of allowing copyrighted videos on its YouTube service without permission.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on Thursday that a reasonable jury could have found that YouTube knew of specific infringing activity on its website. As a result, it said a lower court made a mistake in dismissing the case.

Viacom had no immediate comment. Google and both the companies' lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The original $1 billion lawsuit filed by Viacom in 2007 went to the heart of a major issue facing media companies, specifically how to win Internet viewers without ceding control of TV shows, movies and music.

It was seen as a test of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a 1998 federal law making it illegal to produce technology to circumvent anti-piracy measures, and limiting liability of online service providers for copyright infringement by users.

The plaintiffs in the cases before the 2nd Circuit collectively accused YouTube of improperly broadcasting about 79,000 copyrighted videos on its website between 2005 and 2008.

Viacom had contended that Google and YouTube did nothing to stop the infringements relating to such programming as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "South Park" and "SpongeBob SquarePants."

The 2nd Circuit found that while Google and YouTube were entitled to a "safe harbor" provision of the copyright law, it was an open question as to whether they had "actual knowledge or 'red flag' awareness" of specific instances of infringement.

It also said the lower court should consider whether YouTube demonstrated "willful blindness" in allowing copyrighted videos to remain on its website.

The cases are Viacom International Inc et al v. YouTube Inc et al; 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 10-3270; and The Football Association Premier League Ltd et al v. YouTube Inc in the same court, No. 10-3342.

Earlier on HuffPost:

Comments

[TexasUser]

10:12 PM on 04/05/2012

Who's even still using youtube? "This video is not available in your country" is all I ever get now. They pull everything nowadays. It's become useless.

[BUTCHER99]

09:50 PM on 04/05/2012

Americans (some) complain continually about the need for torte reform to stop frivolous lawsuits. They need to expand the base

[Lechiffre]

10:40 AM on 04/06/2012

Bring on the money !

[hansende]

08:38 PM on 04/05/2012

Lets next sue Xerox for allowing people to copy copyrighted books on their copiers.

[Mrs Robinsons]

08:26 PM on 04/05/2012

Everything comes from God.

We all know that by now.

[dacapm01]

08:21 PM on 04/05/2012

Just goes to show you that if you run a company and if the business model you use is outdated and inflexible, you just sue, sue, sue, due to your idiotic leadership and strategic view. Morons, they cry foul if the government tries to regulate them, but run crying to the same government when people outsmart them. Can you imagine if dying technologies and businesses can just KILL new tech and businesses by lawsuit? Talk about the end of capitalism, and the end of progress.

[becky bradshaw]

08:18 PM on 04/05/2012

Google likes to pretend they are some kind of benevolent monster. They attack the social fabric from so many directions.

* Google fails to respect intellectual property. How is Google different than other piracy sites?

* Google cheats society from billions of dollars with fancy-pants "Double-Irish" tax maneuvers. This is not a victimless crime. Teachers are laid off, nursing homes are closes, children go hungry.

* And most importantly, Google shields from their search results, damning whistle-blower sites. Bernie Madoff, Enron, and Allen Stanford were all protected by Google. Without Google, many people would not have been ripped off.

"Don't be evil" is the informal corporate motto of Google. They fail.

[rchsod]

07:30 PM on 04/05/2012

just think of mr prince..there will be generations of people who will never ever see his video`s.

it`s free advertising for their products. sometimes i wonder who these people cpould be that stupid

[Add In Canadia]

04:01 PM on 04/05/2012

The entertainment industry has learned nothing from Napster. If YouTube ever gets taken down, we're just going to see a dozen YouTube like sites popup. Some of them will operate in countries that have looser copyright laws (like Canada) and then there will be pressure to control the internet again by blocking IP sites.

Besides, people know if they really want to access certain content they know it's not going to be found on YouTube anyways.

[stcrispy]

03:40 PM on 04/05/2012

It's time to re-write copyright law to bring back the public domain. Our choice is to have copyright holders (and I hold over 200 in songs) control (and in the end destroy) the most powerful invention for communication in the history of the world, or admit that no one can own an idea.

Copyright has gone too far in the direction of rent seeking authors. It's one thing to get paid for your work and another to decide how people will use and interpret your ideas into eternity. Once you've put the work out into the world, you lose your ability - and in a just world, in many cases - your right to control it.

There is such a thing as the public domain and the public interest. Why should I as a composer have more right to control my works than the carpenter who built my house? Should he get money every time someone pays rent? In the case of the internet and file sharing EVERYONE is better off the more files are shared. How many more people view Jon Stewart via the internet than on cable? Artists die of obscurity - not file sharing.

[spiderbucket]

02:52 PM on 04/05/2012

F- Viacom.

[CERDA]

02:38 PM on 04/05/2012

shenanigans!

[Dr Korey]

02:28 PM on 04/05/2012

Screw Viacom. They're a bunch of hypocrites. They broadcast shows that do nothing at all except use videos that other people made and don't give credit for any of them. That Tosh show does nothing except rip off other peoples videos without giving them credit.

[sinnerG7]

03:01 PM on 04/05/2012

Ya but it's really funny!

[Decorina]

02:24 PM on 04/05/2012

Wrong.