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iFilm Infringement Could Blunt Viacom's YouTube Argument
Radio Silence writes "Infringing videos on iFilm could undermine Viacom's case against YouTube. Although it's arguably not a nest of infringement like YouTube, iFilm appears to host more than a handful of videos for which its corporate parent Viacom does not own the copyright. More importantly, Viacom isn't engaging in the kind of proactive infringement identification practices it expects of YouTube, which may cause problems for them in court. 'if Viacom isn't willing to take the same steps with iFilm that it wants YouTube to take with copyrighted content, Viacom may have a harder time making its case before the judge presiding over the case. "It would have some persuasive value with a judge if YouTube says 'look, they're ranting and raving about all this infringement occurring on my site and they're not doing anything about it themselves,'" said copyright attorney Greg Gabriel.'"
Do as I say, not as I do...
This guy's the limit!
Keep in mind this is not the "they did it too!" defense. This is the "What you're asking is unreasonable, see even your own company can't comply!" defense.
That would be true if they were suing for something that was obviously illegal in the first place. However, it's important because they're trying to argue that something ambiguously legal is actually illegal. The DMCA has a provision that indemnifies companies like Google from lawsuits if users upload copyrighted material. All they're required to do is take it down once they've been notified, which they have been doing. Viacom is arguing that they shouldn't have to police YouTube, and that Google should be pre-screening content. What they're essentially saying is that the "Safe Haven" clause of the DMCA is not legal. But if they're doing the exact same thing, it makes it much harder to argue.
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
I don't really even care. Viacom sucks. So does Youtube. I hope they all somehow fail miserably, even though they probably won't. The world is full of idiots that can watch nut-shots all day long and never get tired of it. But really, Youtube is not "the little guy". Youtube started by a rich kid from a rich family (or at least, he married into wealth) and is now owned by google. It's not like there's some deserving indie guy here working hard for us. If it was profitable for Google to crack down on copyrights, they would do so. This isn't about right and wrong or philosophical points. It's about money. Viacom makes money by preserving their copyrights. So they prosecute infringements. Youtube makes money by violating copyrights. So they justify infringements or at least try damn hard to excuse them.
Good thing you are not the courts then. Because, "they did it too" is one of the primary defenses against assault with a deadly weapon -- if some guy is punching you in the face, then you have justification to hit back with anything you've got. If he was just standing there, doing nothing, then you've got no justification to assault him.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Actually, this can still be played in favor of Google.
Rather than pointing out that "Viacom is breaking the law, too," they will note that Viacom, via iFilm, is also practicing the industry standard which relys upon the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA. Even if iFilm changes its stance, Google can point out that they were all operating under the same expectation of safe harbor, and the Viacom has only recently changed their policies in order to try and unilaterally change the industry standards. The damage is done. iFilm can try and change their operating procedure, but it can be made to look like a political move by a good defense team.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
we hold bars accountable if they serve alcohol to patrons who appear to already be intoxicated
And what we DON'T do is require bartenders to administer a breathalyzer test to every person who places a drink order, which is what Viacom is saying YouTube should have been doing.