In 2007 New York based media giant VIACOM (which in collaboration with Network 18 owns channels like COLORS in India), filed $ 1 billion lawsuit against YOUTUBE (Youtube was bought by California based GOOGLE in 2006 for about $ 1.65 billion).Viacom accused Youtube of broadcasting 79,000 copyrighted videos on its website between 2005 and 2008 thereby illegally hosting videos that infringe on the Viacom’s intellectual property, including popular content like MTV videos and TV shows like Comedy Central’s “South Park.”
Many content providers supported Viacom in the battle, including the Associated Press, Gannett Co, the National Football League, Garth Brooks, the Eagles and Sting.
Google and Youtube were supported by eBay Inc, Facebook Inc, Yahoo Inc, Human Rights Watch and Consumers Union.
In its lawsuit, Viacom argued that users posting videos of Viacom’s programs, including South Park and The Daily Show contributed in YouTube’s explosive growth. In defense Google argued that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act protected YouTube from liability because the site promptly takes down infringing content once it is notified.
U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton, who presided over the case for several years, on 18th April ruled in favor of Google and YouTube considering their protection under the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which is a 1998 law that limits the liability of websites if they remove content when notified of possible copyright violations. Safe harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, applies if an Internet service provider like YouTube “responds expeditiously to remove, or disable infringing content.”
After the loss VIACOM now is planning to Appeal against the said Ruling.
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Courtesy:
Time
India Today
Hindustan Times
Vidhik-Vishleshan (Decoding The Law & More) 