YouTube owners Google Inc have filed a response to that lawsuit issued against them back in March by MTV owners Viacom.
As previously reported, I'm sure, the Viacom lawsuit accused YouTube of copyright infringement over allegations that they illegally hosted some 160,000 unauthorised clips of programmes owned by Viacom, including those coming from MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. The media conglom is suing the video sharing website and its parent company for more than $1 billion in damages.
In its response to that litigation, which it filed in New York on Monday, Google claims that YouTube respects the importance of copyrights and goes above and beyond what is required by the US's Digital Millennium Copyright Act to safeguard others' copyright assets. Crucially, Google argue that the Act protects websites like YouTube from violation charges because it operates a policy of removing copyright content off its servers when content owners make them aware hosted material is unauthorised. That, the web firm says, is all that the Act demands of content hosting sites like YouTube.
While most content owners, Viacom included, accept that YouTube are cooperative in removing unauthorised content when they are made aware of it, many do not agree that such a removals policy is sufficient to sidestep liability for the unauthorised distribution of copyrighted content via the video sharing service. Viacom argue that the onus should not be on them to monitor content being shared via YouTube, and that Google should take responsibility for ensuring that copyrighted content never appears on their website in the first place.
Viacom are not the only content company to have concerns about YouTube, of course, though they are the first to pursue legal action, most others having reached or currently negotiating licencing deals with the video website that ensures controls on and revenues from their content whenever it is posted on the platform.