Google and Viacom Finally Settle YouTube Lawsuit 19
An anonymous reader sends word that Google and Viacom have settled their copyright lawsuit over videos posted to YouTube. The case has been ongoing for seven years, with Viacom initially demanding $1 billion and losing in court, but then successfully appealing. 'At the heart of the matter was whether YouTube was responsible for the copyrighted material its users posted on the site. In general, sites that host user-generated content are protected by the DMCA if they take swift action to remove offending content when it's reported. YouTube argued that it does remove this content, but Viacom's initial lawsuit said YouTube was hosting at least 160,000 unauthorized Viacom clips.' You may recall that Viacom was caught uploading some of the videos in question to YouTube themselves. The terms of the new settlement were not disclosed.
Re:Mega (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure. You're a little person. You can use a DMCA notice to do the takedown. Just like the law says.
But if you are big person, like Viacom, or any other multinational 'content creator', you get to be part of a private arrangement with Google, where Google will automatically flag content it thinks belongs to you, and at your option, will take it down or put up ads and give you all the revenue automatically. And if the person complains, you get to decide if the person has a valid complaint. Guess which way that goes.