Google Lawyer Asks Judge To Dismiss Viacom Complaint
Google claims Viacom’s allegation that YouTube property infringes on copyright holders is “unfounded” under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
“Viacom’s complaint in this action challenges the careful balance established by Congress when it enacted the DMCA,” the Google response read. “By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for internet communications, Viacom’s complaint threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment, and political and artistic expression.”
Google lawyer Michael Kwun formally petitioned the judge to dismiss the complaint filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
The DMCA allows internet companies a shield from liability with respect to instances of copyright infringement in user-generated content if the company takes down the material upon request of the rightful owner. However, some legal experts say Google may not be able to avail itself of the DMCA safe harbor because the company profited from the alleged infringement, according to a New York Times report.
“This response ignores the most important fact of the suit, which is that YouTube does not qualify for safe harbor protection under the DMCA,” Viacom said in a statement. “It is obvious that YouTube has knowledge of infringing material on their site, and they are profiting from it.”
The legal battle is far from over in this highly publizied lawsuit, but now a line has been drawn in the sand and both sides await the judge’s ruling.
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Reader Comments.
Viacom’s claim that Google doesn’t qualify for safe harbour protection is ridiculous. Youtube isn’t profiting from the infringing content directly, they are profiting from the Youtube service AS A WHOLE.
Web hosts also profit from their service as a whole, whether or not it contains infringing content.
Viacom’s contention that because Google turns a profit (last time I checked, Youtube was hemmoraging cash before Google snapped them up, so the whole profit angle is debateable) they are not entitled to Safe Harbour protection turns the DMCA on its head. If Viacom were right, only non-profits would be entitled to safe harbour protection, which was not what Congress intended with the DMCA.
This whole lawsuit smacks of sour grapes to me.
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