Veoh Copyright Case Dismissed

SAN DIEGO, August 28: Veoh
Networks, whose backers include Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company and former
Viacom chief Tom Freston, has won a copyright infringement battle, with a
federal judge ruling that it is not liable for pirated material that was posted
to the site.

The judge dismissed the
2006 case filed against Veoh by Io Group, an adult-entertainment production
company. According to wire reports, U.S. District Judge Howard Lloyd ruled that
Veoh qualifies for the safe-harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA). The judge noted that Veoh does not "actively
participate or supervise the uploading of files…. Instead, video files are
uploaded through an automated process which is initiated entirely at the
volition of Veoh's users."

The judge added that Veoh
“has a strong DMCA policy, takes active steps to limit incidents of
infringement on its website and works diligently to keep unauthorized works off
its website."

The verdict was good news
for Google, whose video-sharing site YouTube is in the midst of a $1-billion
copyright infringement suit brought by Viacom. YouTube’s chief counsel, Zahavah
Levine, is quoted as saying in a statement: "It is great to see the court
confirm that the DMCA protects services like YouTube that follow the law and
respect copyrights. YouTube has gone above and beyond the law to protect
content owners while empowering people to communicate and share their
experiences online."

—By Mansha Daswani