Koffsky Schwalb LLC
  • Home
  • Attorneys
    • Mark I. Koffsky
    • Efrem Schwalb
    • Gary Serbin
    • Steven A. Weg
    • Daniel E. Baron
    • Tal S. Benschar
  • Practice Areas
    • Business Law
    • Civil Litigation
    • Intellectual Property
    • Employment Law
    • Real Estate
  • Blog
  • Contact
Phone: (646) 553-1590 | Fax: (646) 553-1591

Beyond The Legalese

YouTube Beats Viacom in a Copyright Lawsuit (Again)

4/30/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
For the second time in three years, YouTube (now owned by Google) beat back Viacom's blockbuster copyright infringement case on summary judgment (without having to go to trial).  In 2007, Viacom sued YouTube alleging that YouTube was hosting tens of thousands of copyright infringing videos such as The Daily Show and SpongeBob SquarePants.  In 2010, Judge Stanton ruled against Viacom, finding that the "safe harbor" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) protected YouTube as long as videos were removed promptly after being notified by rights holders.

The Court of Appeals last year reversed and sent the case back to Judge Stanton and directed him to consider whether YouTube had specific knowledge of copyright infringement or was willfully blind to specific infringement.   And on April 18, 2013. Judge Stanton reaffirmed his ruling and found that Viacom could not prove that YouTube had such specific knowledge of the copyrighted nature of the videos on its site.  "The burden of showing that YouTube knew or was aware of the specific infringements of the works in suit cannot be shifted to YouTube to disprove."  To add insult to injury, Chad Hurley, YouTube's co-founder sent a sarcastic tweet to Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman inviting him to "grab a beer to celebrate".

This fight is not over.  It is extremely likely that this case will head back to the Court of Appeals and, possibly, to the Supreme Court.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.



    Categories

    All
    Civil Procedure
    Constitutional Law
    Copyright
    Corporate
    Employment Law
    International
    Internet
    Litigation
    Media
    Patent
    Privacy
    Real Estate
    Software
    Tax Law
    Trademark


    Archives

    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

     349 Fifth Avenue | Suite 733 | New York, NY 10016 | T: 646.553.1590
  Attorney Advertising | Legal Notices | Privacy Policy
Proudly powered by Weebly