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.
no clear judgement... (Score:3, Interesting)
... means we lost. copyright bullies will not stop.
unacceptable (Score:1, Interesting)
for a lawsuit that got so much press, it should be compulsory to disclose the outcome to the public. What i smell here is that they just found a nice way to make money and fuck the final user, but they wont tell how.
Re:Mega (Score:0, Interesting)
i know it's hip to come up with any, any possible justification on slashdot that excuses systems that encourage copyright violation, but taken as a whole, it is clear that google's system for takedown places undue burden on the copyrightholder. at the very least the law or google if it were truly cncerned about 'do no evil' would have a policy in place where IF a given upload is found to be infrinigng then
a) google would give at least half of the ad revenue generated from views of the item to the rightsholder
b) google would bend over backwards so that multiple offenders can't just 'sign up with a different' account.
c) google would police the most watched videos, as it is absoluitely trivial to find massive piracy just by searching for most viewed videos or simple terms like 'full movie.'
but of course, google has no interest. or rather, they don't care. they just keep the money.
any system that allows google to take in hundreds of millions by in effect being a facilitator for widescale infringement must be reviewed and SENSIBLE balances put into place (such as those that i recommend above). COPYRIGHT IS ABOUT BALANCE. Clearly, the current system is a joke as it places undue burden on rightsholder.
I also note that none of you have likely actually tried gogole's takedown process. it's deliberately slow and cumbersome and small rightsholders have found it very difficult to get teh 'contentids' necessary.' basically, by the time you jump through the hoops, the pirated item has been reposted again by somebody else, and the google see-no-evil-but-take-the-money charade starts anew.