The collecting society that represents French independent labels, SPPF, is suing YouTube because a hundred videos owned by its members which it previously asked to be removed from the video website last year have since reappeared on the Google-owned service.
As with most YouTube litigation, this case essentially centres on the question of whose responsibility it is to monitor infringing content on websites where anyone can upload videos. It's unsurprising that music videos that had been unofficially uploaded to YouTube last year, which were then removed at SPPF's request, have since been re-uploaded by fans. The issue is whose job was it to spot that, and block or remove the re-uploads?
In similar lawsuits elsewhere, most notably the ongoing Viacom v YouTube legal squabble in the US, the video site has claimed that by removing infringing content whenever made aware of it by said content's owners they are fulfilling their obligations under copyright laws. Content owners argue that it's unfair that they should have to cover the cost of hiring people to constantly monitor YouTube for infringement of their content.
There's an extra element to the French case though. YouTube points out that it now has a technical system designed to automatically spot and block infringing content called Content ID. Content owners provide copies of their works, and the YouTube system spots when someone unofficially uploads copies of those works and blocks them - at no cost to the content owner. I don't know how well it works, but YouTube say SPPF haven't signed up to it, and that that affects their legal case against the video service, because the Google-owned company is providing tools to help content owners protect their content and SPPF isn't even giving them a try.
A statement from YouTube issued yesterday said: "We can't discuss a pending case but bear in mind that YouTube offers professional content creators and producers powerful and free tools to protect, promote and monetise their content by using Content ID. Many indies as well as major music companies are using these tools to protect their content in France. The protection of copyrights is best achieved by joint efforts between creators and online platforms, not by lengthy and costly lawsuits. SPPF have not used Content ID to protect their content on the platform so far, although several independent labels do".
SPPF haven't, so far, explained why they have gone for legal action without trying out Content ID.