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YouTube copyright row
Nov 14, 2006
An attempt by Landmark Education to use America's DMCA to find out who posted videos on GooTube is fast turning into a major international incident.
Copyright infringement has become a "hot topic" as, "pirated video from TV, films and music videos has proliferated across the web," says The Los Angeles Times.
Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion but now, "Investors are concerned that Google could be financially liable for videos appearing on sites it runs; the company has said it does not face financial recriminations if it acts quickly to take down copyrighted material once alerted to it," says the story.
Copyright infringement has become a hot topic because the entertainment and software cartels have promoted this purely commercial event to the level of major crime as an excuse for their failure to come to terms with the facts that a) peer-to-peer technology is, or should be, the marketing and distribution vehicle for the 21st digital century, and b) once-compliant consumers are fast becoming customers again, people with unfortunate tendencies to exhibit discernment and intelligence, and exercise free choice.
But now the Copyright Spectre has gone well beyond the level of helpless consumers lacking the resources to defend themselves. Today, it haunts powerful conglomerates such as Google whose newly acquired GooTube is in the centre of a copyright storm which doesn't look likely to disperse any time soon.
The Landmark Education lawsuit, filed in France, has been virtually dismissed by Google spokesman Ricardo Reyes as a, "small lawsuit over a single video that appeared briefly," says the LA Times.
"Small" means $193,000 and, "We have procedures in place that allow copyright owners to tell us if their content is placed on Google Video without authorization," said Reyes. "When we receive appropriate notice, we quickly remove the content from Google Video."
...
The French documentary which got GooTube into trouble is Voyage au Pays des Nouveaux Gourous (Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus).
Late last week the EFF said it was in discussion with Landmark about its DMCA subpoena to Google, "In the hope that we can resolve this without need of litigation" and with that in mind, the EFF has, "held off on filing its motion to quash that subpoena".
The video was posted on Google Video, YouTube and the Internet Archive, and elswhere
Landmark is using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to try to, "force Google Video and others to identify who posted the film," says the LA Times.
"Much like Scientology, Landmark is trying to shut down truths that it doesn't want people to know about," says a p2pnet Reader's Write.
"Scientology's efforts failed miserably and served only to draw further focus onto the cult. Now, with the Landmark story starting to hit the major news providers, the question is whether Landmark is willing to stand up to the scrutiny.
"Here's hoping that some journalists take the time to view the video and see what all the fuss is about."