Viacom has lost its cased against YouTube for copyright infringement. Viacom was suing the Google-owned video site for damages of $1 billion for what it saw as widespread copyright violations. Viacom, which owns properties such as Paramount Pictures, MTV and BET, started the law suit three years ago, however, YouTube won the case by claiming protection under the US’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Rather than going into the complex legal language that surrounds this case, it is easiest to say that YouTube used the Act’s ‘safe harbor’ provision which states a service provider isn’t liable for violating copyright so long as it responds to specific complaints. In other words, the burden of pointing out copyright violations is with Viacom, not YouTube.
It has been a dirty fight between the two media giants but Viacom says it will continue to chase YouTube through the courts. YouTube, on the other hand, is delighted with the court ruling. “This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other,” the company said on its blog. What is certain is that this will not be the last big case brought by a content company to protect its copyrighted material in the digital age.

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