Viacom Plans Another YouTube Appeal Amid Latest Defeat
Viacom plans to again appeal a federal judge’s ruling that Google’s YouTube acted within the safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in dealing with clips of Viacom’s content that users posted to the site. Judge Louis Stanton of U.S. District Court in Manhattan granted Google’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed Viacom’s case. “This ruling ignores the opinions of the higher courts and completely disregards the rights of creative artists,” a Viacom spokesman said. “We intend to appeal the decision."
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A Viacom appeal would be its second to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in this case. A year ago, two appellate judges sided with Viacom and sent Stanton’s previous decision to grant Google’s summary judgment motion back to his court (CD April 6/2012 p2). At the time, the appellate judges gave rather explicit instructions on how Stanton was to apply the facts of the case to certain new standards of determining whether YouTube had “red flag” knowledge of copyright infringement and for determining whether its degree of control ability it had over the site would preclude it from relying on the DCMA’s safe harbor, said communications lawyer Hillel Parness. But Stanton’s ruling Thursday largely ignored those instructions, said the partner with Robins Kaplan who teaches Internet law at Columbia University and isn’t involved in the litigation. The decision didn’t discuss some of the most important instructions from the appeals court, he said.
There’s no guarantee the same appellate judges would hear the case again, the Viacom spokesman said. The court would appoint a new panel of judges, but the two judges who previously ruled on the case would be eligible to hear the new challenge.
The dismissal drew praise from some of YouTube’s supporters. “The lower court’s decision reaffirms that a responsible service with a reasonable process for addressing infringing claims should not be treated like a pirate,” said Computer & Communications Industry Association Vice President Matt Schruers. He said the DMCA’s safe harbors are essential to the Internet industry. Michael Petricone, CEA senior vice president-government and regulatory affairs, said the ruling is a victory for “Internet freedom and the innovation ecosystem.” He said CEA urges the content industry to “cease its litigation against YouTube and other new technologies and embrace the innovative products and services that Americans want and enjoy."
Google also praised the decision. “The growing YouTube community includes not only a billion individual users, but tens of thousands of partners who earn revenue from the platform,” wrote General Counsel Kent Walker (http://bit.ly/11nEzX4). The court’s decision “recognizes YouTube as a thriving and vibrant forum for all these users, creators and consumers alike,” Walker wrote.