SDNY Grants Summary Judgment to YouTube on Viacom's Copyright Infringement Claims
The Southern District of New York brought an end to the copyright infringement case brought by Viacom against YouTube and Google (referred to collectively as YouTube) by granting summary judgment in favor of YouTube on all of Viacom's claims for direct and secondary copyright infringement.
Despite its length, the Court's conclusion was short: YouTube was entitled to the protections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's ("DMCA") "safe harbor" provisions, 17 U.S.C. 512(c). The "critical question," according to the Court, was whether the knowledge required under the DMCA's language was "a general awareness that there are infringements (here, claimed to be widespread and common), or rather mean actual or constructive knowledge of specific and identifiable infringements of individual items."
Based on lengthy excerpts of legislative history supported by case law, the Court concluded that "[g]eneral knowledge that infringement is 'ubiquitous' does not impose a duty on the service provider to monitor or search its service for infringements." Rather, the burden is on the copyright owner to identify infringements. But if a service provider knows of specific instances of infringement from notice from the copyright owner, that provider must promptly remove the infringing material. Because in this case it was uncontroverted that YouTube removed material when it was given notices, it was protected "'from liability for all monetary relief for direct, vicarious and contributory infringement'" under the DMCA.
The case cite is Viacom Int'l Inc. v. YouTube, Inc., 07 Civ. 2103 (LLS) (S.D.N.Y. June 23, 2010) and the Court's opinion can be found here.
