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Battle Lines Sharply Drawn in Viacom's Appeal of U.S. District Judge's Ruling in YouTube Case

BY Amanda Bronstad
January 27, 2011

Now that the long-simmering copyright dispute between Hollywood and the Web has hit the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the outcome could set a national precedent regarding the scope of potential liability for nearly every business on the Internet that posts infringing content. Viacom Inc. was seeking to overturn its devastating loss it suffered in June when U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton of the Southern District of New York found that, under the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), YouTube bore no liability for thousands of videos posted by third parties on its site in alleged infringement of Viacom's copyrights. Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube Inc., 718 F.Supp.2d 514 (S.D.N.Y. 2010).

Support for Both Sides

An appellate ruling for Viacom could wipe out many of today's most popular Web sites, particularly those featuring user-generated content, says Michael Barclay, a fellow at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (“EFF”), which planned to file an amicus brief supporting YouTube. While most of those sites post user-generated material, users often post copyrighted content, including photographs and videos. “The question is: 'Should those Web sites be allowed to exist?' If you think they all should be shut down, you'd be on Viacom's side in this case,” Barclay says.

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