YouTube Declares Victory In Viacom Case

U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton has given Google a big win in its long-standing litigation with Viacom. In a decision, embedded after the jump, Judge Stanton grants Google's request for summary judgment, saying that YouTube can't be held liable for copyright infringement because it is protected by provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which essentially say that a provider of online services can't be held liable for content uploaded by its users, with a few exceptions. The judge says that the "burden is on the (copyright) owner to identify infringement," so even if YouTube did have "general knowledge" that users were uploading illegal clips, as Viacom asserted, it wasn't obligated to seek out those videos and take them down. The judge also notes that whenever YouTube was notified that a clip on its site infringed on a copyright, it responded appropriately by quickly removing the video. Viacom is appealing the ruling.

Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director of Public Knowledge, said, ""We are very pleased with the outcome of this case. It shows that the current structure of copyright law works well for even the largest of content-hosting sites. As we have continually said, the burden to point out allegations of infringement is with the content provider, and the burden of taking down material lies with the service provider. Had Viacom won this case, that burden would have shifted dramatically. As the law now stands, prompt compliance with take-down notices shields an online service provider from liability. We hope those policymakers who look continually to make our copyright law more draconian and unbalanced will take this ruling to heart, and note that the current law is working quite well to protect content creators while taking into account the responsibilities of online service providers."