[x-pubpol] French Court Sides With Google in YouTube Case

[Joly MacFie]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/technology/french-court-sides-with-google-in-youtube-case.html

By ERIC PFANNER
Published: May 29, 2012

PARIS — A French court on Tuesday dismissed a copyright lawsuit
against Google’s online video-sharing platform, YouTube, in a case
that has parallels with the long-running struggle between YouTube and
Viacom in the United States.

The Tribunal de Grande Instance declared that YouTube, which lets
people post videos to the site, had made sufficiently adequate efforts
to remove programs like “Heroes” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” for which TF1,
the biggest television company in France, owned French broadcasting
rights.

TF1 had sought €141 million, or $176 million, in damages. Instead, it
was ordered to pay €80,000 for Google’s legal expenses.

The decision “represents a victory for the Internet and for all those
who depend on the Web to exchange ideas and information,” said
Christophe Mueller, YouTube’s head of partnerships for Southern
Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“It upholds the right for user generated content platforms to
innovate, allowing us to do even more to help French artists to reach
audiences at home and abroad,” Mr. Mueller said.

In its lawsuit, TF1 wanted YouTube to filter all content before it was
uploaded, in order to remove copyrighted material. Currently, YouTube
uses a system called Content ID to try to identify copyrighted videos.
Once it does, it informs the owner of the material, who can decide to
take it down or to let YouTube sell advertising against it, under a
revenue-sharing arrangement between the copyright owner and Google.

After the decision Tuesday, TF1 said it had not decided on its next move.

“The TF1 Group has taken note of the decision, which appears
surprising in several respects,” the company said. “That is why the
group is studying the possibility of appealing the judgment.”

The decision runs counter to several other recent legal rulings in
Europe in which copyright owners took aim at YouTube, which serves up
more than four billion videos a day.

Last month, a court in Germany ordered Google to install filters on
YouTube to prevent the uploading of copyrighted material, in a case
brought by musicians, filmmakers and other creators of art and
entertainment.

Though Google is appealing the German decision, it declared a partial
victory in that case, noting that the court had agreed that YouTube
should be considered a hosting platform, a status that confers some
protection under European Union law. The French court also sided with
Google on this issue.

In Italy, the broadcaster Mediaset, controlled by Silvio Berlusconi,
the former prime minister, last year won a similar case against
YouTube. There, the court ordered Google to keep any Mediaset content
off YouTube, under the threat of a €250 fine per unauthorized video,
per day.

In the United States, meanwhile, an appeals court in April revived the
copyright suit brought by Viacom, the media conglomerate that counts
Paramount Pictures and MTV among its many media properties, against
Google, ruling that a jury should hear the case.

A lower court had previously decided that YouTube qualified for the
so-called safe harbor provision of U.S. copyright law, which absolves
Web platforms of violations as long as they move quickly to remove
protected material when informed of its presence.

Mr. Mueller said it was not clear whether the ruling in France would
have any effect on other cases, like the Viacom dispute, but he said
the company hoped to reach agreements with more owners of media
content, rather than fighting them in court.

“It’s good to put this behind us,” he said of the French case. “We
hope that this will allow us to move on and do more constructive
partnerships around the world.”

Google also recently reached a settlement with French artists,
composers and music publishers, under which it agreed to pay royalties
for works streamed via YouTube.


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Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
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-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
 http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
 VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
-