Viacom Slaps YouTube, Google with Lawsuit - Some Key Points from Viacom's Complaint
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Steve Bryant of Googlewatch does an excellent job of covering the major points of the Viacom lawsuit. There are a number of points in the lawsuit that argue against YouTube being considered a common carrier. First, YouTube doesn't simply provide "storage space, conduits, or other facilities" to its users, according to Viacom; it copies the videos to its servers, adds thumbnails, and indexes the metadata. That's certainly more than your average web host would do, and Viacom argues that it is enough to implicate YouTube as the party who "commits the infringing duplication, public performance, and public display" of the copyrighted material.
Another key point is that YouTube does proactively police its site when it comes to certain videos. It usually won't remove copyrighted material unless informed by the copyright holders, but it will go after porn and take it down without anyone asking it to do so. This shows that the company is able to apply some standards on its own. Google has a potential counterargument: pornography may be easier to police than copyrighted material because it is easier to detect through filters on keywords and/or skin tones.
Something that could really get YouTube into trouble is the fact that it offers protections to companies that sign licensing agreements, but apparently won't extend those same protections to other copyright holders. "By limiting copyright protection to business partners who have agreed to grant it licenses, YouTube attempts to coerce copyright owners to grant it a license in order to receive the protection to which they are entitled under copyright laws."
So what happens if YouTube really is responsible for the videos on its site? Well, Viacom insists that most of the company's value is from the infringing videos; that YouTube knows about the works and the fact that they are infringing (which may be debatable); and that YouTube is profiting from the infringing works because "YouTube derives advertising revenue directly attributable to the infringing works, because advertisers pay YouTube to display banner advertising to users whenever they log on to, search for, and view infringing videos." In short, according to Viacom, YouTube is committing theft and illegally profiting from Viacom's work. It remains for Viacom to prove this in a court of law.
Next: Where Will it Go? >>
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