In an encouraging decision for YouTube, a US federal district court has ruled that online video site Veoh is not responsible for copyright violations committed by its users.
Universal Music Group accused Veoh of copyright violations in a lawsuit filed two years ago, but the court decided the site is protected by the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Since 2007, Google, which owns YouTube, has been in a similar legal wrangle with media conglomerate Viacom, which holds interests in DreamWorks, Paramount and MTV. Viacom is suing Google for US$1 billion worth of damages over YouTube copyright violation. But analysts say that while the Veoh decision isn’t binding on the Google case, it sets a precedent that the YouTube decision will probably follow.
“Veoh’s policies are very similar to YouTube’s,” Electronic Frontier Foundation senior attorney Fred von Lohmann told Cnet.com. “The judge gave Veoh a clean bill of health. I think the court in New York [where the Viacom-YouTube case is being heard] is going to take this ruling very seriously. The facts are very, very close.”
Viacom’s case against Google is expected to go to trial in 2010.
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