Viacom v. Google (Viacom and Google had better read the Perfect 10 Case)

April 3, 2007 on 2:24 pm | In DMCA, News Quotes | No Comments

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act does not provide a free ride to anyone. Rather, it provides “limitations” on liability which are not exclusive.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (not that there is anything bad about that) for the past month, you know that Viacom has sued Google for copyright infringement arising from its YouTube business model. The complaint is here for your reading enjoyment.

The 9th Circuit has just decided an important case - Perfect 10 v. CCBill et al. which goes to some of the heart of the Viacom matter.

1) DMCA provisions in Perfect 10 are relevant to Viacom suit. In Perfect 10, the Court focused on the DMCA safe harbors “from liability” for:

“(1) transitory digital network communications;

(2) system caching;

(3) information residing on systems or networks at the direction of users; and

(4) information location tools.” Ellison, 357 F.3d at 1076-77 (citing 17
U.S.C. §§ 512(a)-(d))

2) Not exclusive or complete protection. The safe harbor “do[es] not affect the question of ultimate liability under the various doctrines of direct, vicarious, and contributory liability,” and nothing in the language of § 512 indicates that the limitation on liability described therein is exclusive.” CoStar Group, Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc., 373 F.3d 544, 552 (4th Cir. 2004).

Continue reading Viacom v. Google (Viacom and Google had better read the Perfect 10 Case)…