Numerous reports are surfacing about new litigation against popular video sharing site YouTube. It appears that French broadcaster TF1 is suing the major video sharing site for 100 million euros.
The reports surfaced on Reuters and moved to other major outlets like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
The initial reports say that TF1 is Frances largest private broadcaster. The 100 million euro suit is the equivalent of about $155 million USD. Variety notes that this is the same broadcaster that is currently suing another major video sharing site ‘DailyMotion’.
Said the reports, the lawsuit was filed in California, but will be heard by a French court.
It may lead one to wonder if there are similarities between the lawsuit by TF1 against YouTube and the lawsuit against ThePirateBay from Holleywood. Clearly, there are geographical barriers, legally speaking, to overcome. In the US, there is the digital Millennium Copyright act which has allowed YouTube to operate in the first place. Essentially speaking, if you find your work on YouTube and like it removed, you go through YouTubes process of getting a take-down notice. If anything else, some have criticized for making it too easy to take a video down.
The reports also rightfully note that Viacom is currently attempting to sue YouTube for $1 billion USD.
Hat tip: BNA Internet Law News via Michael Geist
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I’m sure Google’s pissed off now that they’ve just picked up ‘Tube and they’re getting sued ’till they’re blue in the face…
The lawyers are having a field day on the internet… what a horrible year for us…
Maybe I should make a video somehow get it on youtube and also sue for a fictitious number.
As a service provider aren’t they exempt from infractions caused by user submitted comments?
The issue is not with the U.S. laws its with laws from other countries. Basically these industries are at an advantage as somewhere the laws are being broken so if you want to shut down a website you just have to sue them from there. Seriously corporations are going to kill the internet unless someone comes along and makes it impossible to censor. People need to start pulling their heads out of the sand and either run for office or elect competent individuals not just the news media’s poster child.
By “user submitted comments” I meant Content
@Mountain Rage:
I was thinking of this as well while I wrote the article but then I got to thinking – if that was the case then why hasn’t there been a successful lawsuit against ThePirateBay? To me there’s a similar situation since Hollywood has tried suing the website in other countries but it did them absolutely no good. Meanwhile YouTube is being sued in another country. Unfortunately I’m not familiar with international law differences between Sweden and the US so I really don’t have any idea on the matter. It’s why I referenced TPB in the article in the first place actually – I was hoping someone would be able to explain if there’s a critical difference between the two sites legally speaking.
Theres two reason I can think of that would allow Youtube to be sued and not TPB. For Youtube they have a french site which I can only imagine means a server in France or nearby. Where as the PirateBay has its servers only in a few key locations. The other difference is the fact that ThePirateBay only hosts the torrent files while Youtube is hosting the video. Its possible that its simply easier to sue for actual copyright infringement internationally then on the gray area of torrent hosting.
Jesus christ I think Google should team with TPB they’ve been sued till they’ve shit their pants. Auugh why the hell cant they leave YouTube alone?