Viacom has made a convincing copyright infringement case against ...
Viacom has made a convincing copyright infringement case against YouTube in court filings, Stanford Group analyst Paul Gallant wrote. Media coverage has focused on the degree to which the Digital Millennium Copyright Act may guard Google’s YouTube from indirect…
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infringement claims, ignoring the fact that Viacom raised compelling direct infringement claims, he said: “DMCA’s ’safe harbor’ provision only protects Google against an indirect/contributory infringement claim. It does not protect against a direct infringement claim.” Google likely will invoke “fair use” to defend itself against these charges, which will not be easy, he said: “On the one hand, most uses of Viacom material were less than the entire work, as YouTube limits videos to 10 minutes in length.” In contrast, Google clearly operates YouTube as a commercial service; Viacom will try to show how Google has hampered its ability to profit on its videos online, Gallant said. A Viacom win would open the door to other content owner suits, he said: “While such suits could be filed now, they may hold off pending the District Court ruling, which is likely in early 2008.”