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YouTube Ordered To Remove Videos, Filter Future Uploads By German Court

Posted by Soulskill on from the germany-sets-precedent dept.

suraj.sun sends this excerpt from Deutsche Welle: "YouTube was told by a regional court in Hamburg on Friday not to display seven out of 12 contested clips without permission from the German copyright fee collecting society Gema. Gema claimed that its members were losing money every time their music was being displayed on YouTube. A proper licensing fee between the two sides expired in 2009. The Hamburg State Court ruled YouTube would in future have to install an efficient mechanism to filter out such content uploaded by users or face a fine of up to 250,000 euros ($330,000) for each case, or up to six months imprisonment. Knowing that a foolproof filter system looks next to impossible, Gema is now hoping that Google will finally agree to a new bilateral licensing treaty whereby the collecting society would not get an annual lump sum for the contested videos, but a fixed fee each time copyright-protected videos are watched."

4 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. Just withdraw from Germany. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hope that Google plays hardball, and simply blacks out Youtube for Germany. The resulting user outcry would then be turned against Gema.

    1. Re:Just withdraw from Germany. by BenJury · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why not? If the income generated from YouTube in Germany is less than the fines they are facing, why not pull out? Replacing the page with how the German electorate can let their elected representative know how they feel about it would work wonders.

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    2. Re:Just withdraw from Germany. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Right there with you, and I'm in Germany. I have to use tor for about two videos in five anyway, so they might as well block it completely and generate some political pressure against these asshats. Pirate party's already polling at around 10% these days; a bit more blatant censorship will just make the network rights issue even bigger.

  2. And then ... by LoudMusic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "... the collecting society would not get an annual lump sum for the contested videos, but a fixed fee each time copyright-protected videos are watched ..."

    And then start paying people to watch the videos.

    Profit!

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