Berlin – A German court ruled last week that Google’s (NASD: GOOG)
YouTube must compensate the copyright holder of several musical video
performances posted to the site, as its terms of service do not legally
alleviate the site’s responsibility to respect copyrights, the Associated Press
reported.
Google told AP it will appeal the Hamburg state court’s ruling, which
found that Google’s notice to users that they must own the copyrights to videos
they upload does not go far enough to shield Google from liability from
infringements committed by those users — who Google lets sign up for YouTube
anonymously.
"This decision results in a substantial legal uncertainty for
all providers of video platforms, opinion forums, social communities, blogs and
many other Internet services in Germany," Arnd Haller, director of legal
affairs at Google Germany, told AP, adding that the company believes the ruling
is in conflict with the EU’s e-commerce directive.
Related Links:
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(AP)
