Madrid – A Spanish court has cleared Google (NASD: GOOG) of copyright
infringement charges brought by local broadcaster Telecinco, ruling that
copyright holders are responsible for identifying works posted to YouTube and
requesting they be removed.
Google called the ruling "a clear victory for
the Internet and the rules that govern it" in a blog post, adding,
"If Internet sites had to screen all videos, photos, and text before
allowing them on a website, many popular sites — not just YouTube, but
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others — would grind to a halt."
Courts in
Germany and France have made contradictory rulings, finding Google liable for
content uploaded to YouTube by users, but the company won a favorable ruling in
Viacom’s $1 billion copyright suit against YouTube in the U.S.
Telecinco has appealed the Spanish
court’s ruling, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/technology/24google.html
http://tinyurl.com/29hxnqh
(WSJ)
