Andre Yoskowitz
29 Aug 2008 14:54
In a decision that should bode well for larger video sharing sites that are in legal trouble such as YouTube, a federal judge has absolved Veoh of any responsibility in the unauthorized posting of copyrighted video clips.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd threw out the copyright infringement lawsuit brought forward by Io Group, the adult video maker. Veoh is a site that streams ad-supported shows but the porn company sued the site in 2006 after they claimed they found 10 clips of their films posted without authorization.
The Judge ruled that Veoh had in fact complied with federal laws by "promptly" taking down the videos after receiving complaints from Io.
In an almost identical suit, Viacom is suing YouTube for $1 billion USD alleging that the site is a breeding ground for unauthorized clips of hit shows such as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "SpongeBob SquarePants".
There also 12 or so smaller sites facing similar lawsuits.
"This ruling is a big boost for YouTube," added Fred von Lohmann, an attorney with the EFF.
"Once content has been identified as infringing, Veoh's digital fingerprint technology also prevents the same infringing content from ever being uploaded again," wrote Judge Lloyd in his decision. "All of this indicates that Veoh has taken steps to reduce, not foster, the incidence of copyright infringement on its Web site."