YouTube Targetted for Copyright Infringement Again (NewTeeVee)

[Drew Wilson]

A criminal investigation has been launched against senior executives of YouTube and parent company Google in Hamburg, Germany, over allegations of copyright infringement, according to media reports from that country. The case started after a complaint by German music rights holders; Hamburg’s prosecutor has formally requested assistance from U.S. colleagues to compel YouTube to produce log files identifying who uploaded as well as who viewed 500 specific videos.

It’s unclear if the investigation will ever result in an actual court case. German prosecutors routinely throw out criminal investigations against copyright infringement, leaving it up to the parties involved to pursue civil lawsuits or settle out of court. The case does, however, once again demonstrate that Viacom’s massive one billion-dollar lawsuit isn’t the only copyright dispute Google has to tackle. There are regularly lawsuits all around the globe accusing YouTube and Google as running a worldwide video platform. Indeed, at a time when fragmented rights and universal access continue to collide, not irking rights holders seems impossible.

The current investigation started as the result of a formal complaint by Hamburg-based lawyer Jens Schippmann, who represents 25 German musicians, producers and music publishers. Schippmann sued Google in civil court earlier this year, alleging that videos of his clients have been viewed more that 125 million times without any compensation. Schippmann now alleges that Google didn’t respond to requests to take down more that 8,000 videos and that his clients were denied access to the company’s Content ID Program. He also claimed that users would utilize YouTube as a kind of “covert file-sharing platform,” tagging his clients videos with keywords like “album quality” to encourage downloading.

Google strongly objected to these claims, according to a report by German IT news site Netzwelt.de. German Google spokesperson Henning Dorstewitz rejected the idea that executives or other employees of Google or YouTube were committing criminal acts of infringement. “We cooperate with thousands of rights holders across the globe,” Dorstewitz told Netzwelt.

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...and once again, the attempt at a lawsuit will fail miserably. Of course, that won't stop the copyright holders from trying to kill any hint of innovation on the internet.

YouTube - We'll keep innovating until we're sued.

[mountain_rage]

Why would they need the identities of viewers?

[Signa]

Why would they need the identities of viewers?

To sue them, of course. Such disgusting human beings. "Urhurhurhur, they saw my content online, time to get money from them."

[mountain_rage]

Ya but what kind of precedent can their be for someone watching unauthorized copyright material? If they were not distributing the movie, they were not responsible for the copyright infringement. The onus is always on the distributor, the person viewing only has to assume that the person offering the video has the right to do so. So they can't sue the viewers, unless the laws in Germany are really fucked up.

[HelenaP]

...and on it rolls.

How many (when it comes down to the breaking of the balls) will stand up for what P2P is all about?

Jeez, join the EFF. There are enough links floating around the forum....

Thanks Drew.