James Delahunty
13 Mar 2007 18:18
Google Inc. is fully confident that current copyright law in the United States provides YouTube and other Google services adequate protection against lawsuits like the $1 billion lawsuit filed by Viacom Inc. today. After months of an escalating argument between Viacom and Google, Viacom filed a lawsuit against the company on Tuesday, claiming "massive intentional copyright infringement."
However, Google's lawyers were quick to defend the company and add that it has strong protections under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and warned that Google will aggressively protect itself. The DMCA limits liability for firms that act quickly to block or remove pirate material from servers when they are properly notified by the copyright holder.
"Here there is a law which is specifically designed to give Web hosts such as us, or... bloggers or people that provide photo-album hosting online ... the 'safe harbor' we need in order to be able to do hosting online," Alexander Macgillivray, Google's associate general counsel for products and intellectual property, told Reuters. "We will never launch a product or acquire a company unless we are completely satisfied with its legal basis for operating."
He used past cases like this as examples. "This is an area of law where there are a bunch of really clear precedents, so Amazon and eBay have both been found to qualify for the safe harbor and there are a whole bunch more," he said. "We will continue to innovate and continue to host material for people, without being distracted by this suit."
He also pointed out that a Judge cited "safe harbor" protections previously in dismissing a lawsuit involving copyright issues filed by Nevada attorney Blake Field against the company.
Source:
Reuters