Judge Declares Copyright Owner Must Monitor Its Own Products

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled in favor of Google in its long-standing dispute with Viacom International Inc. Viacom International alleged that Google was liable for copyright infringement for publishing copyright-protected content on its YouTube site. The Court declared that Google was protected by provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which basically states that online services can’t be held liable for content independently uploaded by site visitors, with some exceptions.

The Court says the burden was on Viacom (as copyright owner) to identify infringement and notify the site owners of the problem. This is true even if the online service provider had general knowledge of the potential infringement. However, the Court also lauded YouTube for quickly removing the potentially infringing video when it was notified of the problem.

While victorious, the struggle was not without cost. Google estimates that it has spent about $100 million to defend itself in the lawsuit. And its expenses are not over yet. Viacom pledges to appeal the decision. 

The case has great relevance for any site, large or small, which relies on user-generated content. That may explain why several of Google’s competitors, such as Yahoo and Facebook, have come to its defense. 

SOURCE:  Tartakoo, Joseph, "Google Says Viacom Lawsuit Cost $100 million," PaidContent.org, July 15, 2010.  http://paidcontent.org/article/419-google-we-saw-strength-in-every-major-product/