MESSAGE
| DATE | 2007-05-05 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Google IP Law Suits
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YouTube faces another 'Copyright infringement' lawsuit by Bithika
Khargarhia - May 5, 2007 - 0 comments YouTube faces another 'Copyright
infringement' lawsuit
Adding more to YouTube’s copyright infringement woes, England's top
soccer league and an independent U.S. music publisher on Friday filed
a lawsuit against YouTube, alleging the hugely popular video-sharing
portal was engaging in massive copyright infringement to build traffic
to the site.
The Football Association Premier League Ltd. better known as the
English Premier League, and music publisher Bourne Co. have launched the
lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York,
accusing the video-sharing website of "knowingly†misappropriating
its intellectual property by encouraging footage to be viewed on its site.
The lawsuit charges that YouTube, which was acquired by the Internet
search giant Google Inc. last year, deliberately encourages massive
copyright infringement on its website to generate public attention and
boost traffic.
"Defendants, which own and operate the website YouTube.com, have knowingly
misappropriated and exploited this valuable property for their own gain
without payment or license to the owners of the intellectual property,"
the lawsuit said.
YouTube Inc., YouTube LLC and YouTube's corporate parent, Google Inc. were
named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Plaintiffs, the premier league and the music company, in their lawsuit
sought class action status and besides the unspecified damages asked
for a disgorgement of profits made by the alleged actions.
The Premier League is the top division of English soccer, broadcasted
in 204 countries worldwide and viewed by audiences estimated by the
league at 2.59 billion, making it the world's most watched domestic
league competition. Bourne Co. declares itself as one of the largest
privately held international music publishers in the world.
The recent lawsuit comes nearly 2 months after the New York-based
entertainment giant Viacom Media filed a suit with the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York, alleging Google's San Bruno-based
video-sharing site YouTube knowingly infringed Viacom copyrights "on a
huge scale."
In its lawsuit, the American media conglomerate Viacom claimed
unauthorized display of over 160,000 video clips picked collectively
from MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon by YouTube.
Besides claiming "massive intentional copyright infringement" of its
properties Viacom has demanded for an injunction preventing Google and
YouTube from further copyright infringement. Viacom also seeks more than
US $1 billion in damages and an injunction against further violations
against YouTube and its parent company Google Inc.
However, in a response to Viacom's copyright infringement lawsuit, the
online search leader has denied all claims, and late last month filed a
confrontational official response in New York’s federal district court,
contending that YouTube’s activities are legal.
In an 11-page response to Viacom, Google has said that Viacom’s
claims were unfounded and argued that YouTube respects the importance
of copyrights and goes above and beyond what is required under the 1998
law, known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which gives
Web hosts protection from copyright lawsuits so long as they comply with
requests to remove unauthorized material. It also asked for a judgment
dismissing the complaint.
Now, responding to the Premier League and the U.S. music publisher’s
lawsuit, Google general counsel Kent Walker said, "These suits simply
misunderstand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which balances
the rights of copyright holders against the need to protect internet
communications and content.
"They threaten the way people legitimately exchange information, news,
entertainment, and political and artistic expression over the internet."
-- http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff http://www.nylxs.com -
Leadership Development in Free Software
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like
Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world -
RI Safir 1998
http://fairuse.nylxs.com DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS -
RI Safir 2002
"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers
to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in
our own society."
"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be
damned.< You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and
technology have been attacted at the hip since the 1st dynasty in
Ancient Egypt. I guess you missed that one."
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