YouTube and Google Once Again Dodges Viacom’s $1 Billion Suit YouTube Founder Tweets Viacom’s Chief Executive If He Wants to Celebrate

Viacom’s $1 Billion Copyright Infringement Suit Against YouTube Dismissed Again

YouTube founder Chad Hurley mockingly tweeted Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman, “Hey Philippe, wanna grab a beer to celebrate?! YouTube Again Beats Viacom’s Massive Copyright Infringement Lawsuit,” on Thursday after Federal District Court Judge Louis Stanton once again dismissed Viacom’s $1 billion copyright infringement suit against YouTube. This comes a year after the Second Circuit salvaged what was left of Viacom’s case. Viacom originally sued YouTube in March 2007 alleging that YouTube had engaged in massive copyright infringement by allowing users to upload and view hundreds of thousands of videos of Viacom copyrighted content, such as clips from South Park and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Judge Stanton granted summary judgment against Viacom in June 2010 based on Google’s contention that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (“DMCA”) Safe Harbor shielded YouTube from liability because it promptly took down any infringing content upon notification.

The DMCA Safe Harbor protects online service providers, such as YouTube, against liability from copyright infringement provided that they adhere to specific guidelines such as removing and/or blocking access to allegedly infringing material when they receive notification of an infringement claim from the copyright holder.

Viacom appealed to the Second Circuit, and while the Second Circuit largely agreed with Judge Stanton, it carved out a narrow issue for reconsideration. The Second Circuit vacated the order granting summary judgment “because a reasonable jury could find that YouTube had actual knowledge or awareness of specific infringing activity on its website.”

In Judge Stanton’s 24-page opinion, he found that due to the volume of content uploaded onto the website, it was impractical for YouTube to know when an infringing clip appeared. Therefore, the burden rests on Viacom to notify YouTube when unauthorized videos of its copyrighted content were uploaded onto the site for YouTube to remove.

It is estimated that by 2010 Google had already spent $100 million in defending this suit. Viacom stated that it intends to appeal this decision. Who knows what the parties will have spent by the time this lawsuit is finally resolved.

Sources: http://business.time.com/2013/04/19/how-google-beat-viacom-in-the-landmark-youtube-copyright-case-again/ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-youtube-prevails-copyright-suit-viacom-20130418,0,5832848.story

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