Copyright abuse

[fingal]

A bit of a dry topic perhaps, but I just read that Viacom are suing YouTube to the tune of $1 bn. That's a lot of wonga (money) by anyone's estimation, and as YouTube is owned by Google, that could potentially alter the face of the Internet if Viacom is successful.

It's true that YouTube - and similar sites - can't seem to prevent copyrighted material from being uploaded. I've seen one or two films on YouTube! I don't know if its changed, but Google video is nearly as bad... or good if you see things that way.

What do other people think about this? Does it matter, or is the idea of copyright outmoded? I read this news article.

Whatever happens, this is likely to be a high profile law suit with far reaching consequences for Net users.

[SoX2000]

I doubt Viacom will win, YouTube and Google Videos are services and have T&C about their use.

"Videos don't kill studios, users do."

Although I really don't understand why Studios are pursuing things this way after they have seen the way of the music industry. MP3's are available to buy cheaply DRM free on play.com and other sites now, which is great! Where as the studios are going through what the music industry went through with napster about 8 years ago.

[Geeth]

I think that there are terms on conds for uploading copyrighted stuff.
Youtube does do an excellent job of removing material that is copyrighted.

With any service though it is generally a reactive process. Switch means it take time.

[netstrider]

I have seen a couple of videos removed that had copyright and I doubt 1bn is enough to put Google's estimated value of 86bn out of business and I can't see Viacom winnin the lawsuit. Google/Youtube do everything to warn and guide users against the uploading of copyrighted material + they have their T&C as mentioned.

[Artesia]

I'm involved with an independent music community (aka OMD - Online Music Distributor) and we deal with this sort of thing often. The site is for artists to upload their music. But of course, we get people who create accounts and upload copyrighted music for the purpose of file sharing. We spend a lot of time tracking down and deleting these accounts.

The way it works there is that if an entity, such as a record label, finds a track that they hold the copyright to, they send us a notice to take it down. They have to provide a link to the file, and we then have 30 days to take it down. We get these regularly, although I don't know exact numbers.

But I imagine that it would be similar for videos? It seems like a reasonable arrangement, and a lawsuit here would be in the same class as suing tobacco companies for compensation for lung cancer victims.

Then again, the RIAA/MPAA and such don't exactly have the best of reputations for reasonable business practices...

[netstrider]

Do they actually sue tobacco companies for lung cancer victims...? That's pathetic lol.. (something that doesn't and wouldn't happen here in SA anyway)

What happens in case you don't remove the copyrighted content within 30 days? I wonder how many links need be removed daily then by Youtube...

[Dapper Dan]

Do they actually sue tobacco companies for lung cancer victims...? That's pathetic lol.. (something that doesn't and wouldn't happen here in SA anyway)

Hi netstrider. I'm afraid that's how it is here. In the US, others are always to blame for the individual's bad choices and actions, which of course leads to rampant personal irresponsibility. Stick an electric toothbrush in your ear and damage your hearing. Then, sue the manufacturer on grounds there was no cautionary notice in the manual (in every conceivable language) that doing so could cause bodily injury. With a good trial lawyer, you will be rewarded millions for your ineptitude. I'll stop now as I'm getting off topic and possibly slightly political...

[Artesia]

I'm not sure what happens if we don't take it down. We would probably receive a friendly reminder. Frankly, I'm amazed anyone actually notices.

[techieMoe]

Do they actually sue tobacco companies for lung cancer victims...? That's pathetic lol..

Yes, actually here in the US we do. One of the biggest class-action lawsuits in history happened here and it was against tobacco companies on behalf of their "victims."

Tobacco litigation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[techieMoe]

The way it works there is that if an entity, such as a record label, finds a track that they hold the copyright to, they send us a notice to take it down. They have to provide a link to the file, and we then have 30 days to take it down. We get these regularly, although I don't know exact numbers.

But I imagine that it would be similar for videos? It seems like a reasonable arrangement...

I'm not a lawyer, but what you're describing sounds like a DMCA takedown notice. It's part of a very controversial copyright bill that passed in 1998 under Bill Clinton. Basically if a copyrights holder sees an infringing file, they have to notify the host and give them reasonable time to remove the content before launching a lawsuit.