Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: youtube, mediaset, google, viacom, lawsuit | Themes: The Internet, Networking, Business
It seems Google and YouTube are facing yet more legal proceedings, this time from an Italian media company.
Mediaset is accusing Google and YouTube of copyright violation and claims Mediaset-owned clips on YouTube amount to 325 hours of broadcasting across the company’s three stations.
The Italian media company is suing for €500 million ($779 million) in damages but warned that this figure does not include losses suffered as a result of not being able to sell advertising for all those hours of programming.
According to a Reuters’ report, YouTube insists there’s no need for a lawsuit.
“There is no need for legal action ... We prohibit users from uploading infringing material and we cooperate with all copyright holders to identify and promptly remove infringing content as soon as we are officially notified.”
While it’s true that YouTube does have a flagging system for unauthorized content (and similarly for offensive clips), other companies suing the video sharing site claim YouTube does not do enough to ensure these clips are removed.
In an ongoing lawsuit from American media company Viacom, YouTube was recently ordered to hand over all user histories to prove that people use the website more for viewing copyright protected clips than they do for viewing home videos posted by friends and family. This decision was not well received among YouTubers and Google tried to appeal the decision on the grounds that it was a violation of users privacy.
It’s no surprise that the Google owned company has expressed desires to avoid a lawsuit with Mediaset. Aside from the fact that the damages would be heaped on top of the $1 billion Viacom is seeking, Mediaset is controlled by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, according to Bloomberg. Given the negative feedback from users who don’t want their data being passed around from company to company, YouTube probably doesn’t want anymore bad press.
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Mediaset might think to pay its 379 Million of Euros FINE to the EU Community before considering to sue everybody else... Or do they want to get the cash before that?
They are the perspective of their role leader... Pure S..T !!!!
Just add "HI" to the missing letters...
An angry italian reader.
They probably cant pay those fines without this settlement.
In layman's terms : Mediaset and Viacom are greedy capitalist fuckers.
"An angry italian reader."
Not bad, not one word ended in a vowel!
Its human nature, hes got money so lets find a way to get it without actually working for it. Maybe Mediaset should crash into Google and say its neck hurts, they might get further.
First it was emo music, now it's suing youtube, dang ruffians!
I have a question - who is responsible for ensuring copyrighted material doesn't get posted? Should it be the owner of the site, the account holder of the site or the company?
Is it reasonable to say YouTube has to monitor all the files uploaded to their site for copyright infringement? Do we trust the account holder to report whether or not they have uploaded or viewed copyrighted materials? Do we put the burden on the copyright owner to visit every web site on the web and check every download-able/viewable file available for copyright infringement?
What do you all think is reasonable and fair?
I have a question - who is responsible for ensuring copyrighted material doesn't get posted? Should it be the owner of the site, the account holder of the site or the company?
It's a nearly impossible situation in the USA since anything produced is assumed to be copyrighted and no registration is required. There is no central reference where a host can check submitted content against to see if it's copyrighted or not. Someone could post a video of their toddlers singing a birthday song and the lyrics and tune could be copyrighted by a composer somewhere. If the kids are wearing commercially made birthday hats the designs on those hats are copyrighted. Every one of these uses are potential violations.