As a sequel to the 3-year court battle between Viacom and YouTube over copyrighted content, Viacom formally appealed the most recent court’s decision dismissing Viacom’s claims against YouTube for copyright infringement. The battle started 3 years ago, when Viacom sued YouTube seeking more than $1 billion in damages in connection with video clips posted on YouTube’s site that were owned by Viacom channels such as Comedy Central and MTV. In reaching its decision to dismiss Viacom’s claims, the court in June ruled that YouTube was entitled to so-called “safe harbor” protections found at 17 U.S.C. Section 512(c) of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The court held that YouTube’s “general” knowledge that infringing content was on site did not disqualify it from the protection. Rather, it was still the responsibility of the copyright owner to police the site and ask YouTube to remove the content. As long as YouTube responded promptly, it would be entitled to safe harbor protection.
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