NEW YORK—A judge today ruled that YouTube was not liable for copyright infringement in a suit brought against it by Viacom that sought at least $1 billion in damages.
U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton ruled that YouTube.com, owned by Google, was protected by the safe-harbor provision of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which states that a site isn’t liable for infringement if it removes offending material when properly notified by the copyright owner.
At issue were clips posted to YouTube.com from Viacom-owned MTV and Comedy Central by the site’s users.
In his 30-page ruling Stanton said that “Mere knowledge of prevalence of such activity in general is not enough. The provider must know of the particular case before he can control it. The provider need not monitor or seek out facts indicating such activity.”
In March both parties sought a ruling from the bench without a trial. The crux of Viacom’s suit alleged that YouTube, without authorization, profited from posting content it did not legally own.
Viacom, controlled by Sumner Redstone, said that it would appeal today’s ruling.
“We believe that this ruling by the lower court is fundamentally flawed and contrary to the language of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the intent of Congress, and the views of the Supreme Court as expressed in its most recent decisions,” Viacom said in the statement.
Adult industry attorney Clyde DeWitt told AVN that while the case is essentially over at the trial court level, he believes it will wind up at the U.S. Supreme Court at some point.
“This is really Goliath versus Goliath,” he said. “This may go all the way to the Supreme Court, with the names involved and the money behind this whole affair. I think it has a better than 50/50 chance of being accepted by the Supremes because it’s just such a big deal. Congress could jump in, too.
“In light of this decision the Hollywood movie industry will be pounding on a lot of doors to get something done. They didn’t listen to [the adult industry] but the big movie studios they will and perhaps adult can benefit as fellow content creators.”
What has content producers and copyright holders up in arms is the safe harbor provision that puts the entire burden of policing content in their court—even if the site where the material is posted knew about the infringement.
"These issues are really important for content creators to protect their intellectual property against the usage by online aggregators," Laura Martin, an analyst Needham & Co., told Reuters. "It is really important for content creators to get paid. This is the beginning, not the end. Sumner won't roll over and die on this."
