Viacom Ups Ante In YouTube Copyright Spat: Google More Than A Mere Enabler
By Joseph Weisenthal - Tue 27 May 2008 11:49 AM PST
Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is getting a lot of attention for claiming in its latest court brief (.pdf) that Viacom’s (NYSE: VIA) lawsuit against YouTube “threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment, and political and artistic expression.” The rhetoric headlines a familiar legal argument, that the DMCA protects YouTube’s right to host copyrighted content from third parties without fear of liability.
While it might seem like this case is getting a little tired, Cynthia Brumfeld noticed that Viacom actually raised the stakes in a recently (.pdf) amended complaint from April. In addition to pointing out that YouTube hosts all kinds of copyrighted content, the company emphasizes that YouTube is guilty of public performance of such content due to the way it presents and plays the videos. The filing highlights YouTube’s embedding and sharing features as particularly problematic for the way it encourages infringement. Rather than just helping users violate copyright, it argues, YouTube is a direct infringer.
Legally, this may be a more robust charge, though it’s basically an elaboration of Viacom’s original argument, that to say YouTube is merely video storage site is pollyannaish. It’s not changing Google’s core argument though: ‘we supply the tools; what our users do with them is their business (though we’ll take down videos at copyright holders request!).’
