Major Media Companies Team for Copyright Pact

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK,
October 19: CBS Corporation, NBC Universal, Viacom, Fox Entertainment Group and
The Walt Disney Company have aligned with new-media players Dailymotion, Veoh
Networks, Microsoft Corp. and MySpace for a set of guidelines to protect
copyrighted content online.

Google and its YouTube
site are notably absent from the list of companies supporting the new
guidelines; YouTube is currently facing a $1-billion lawsuit from Viacom for
failing to remove pirated clips from the site, and has come under pressure from
numerous other players for taking so long to implement anti-piracy technology.
The site added that fingerprinting software this week.

The principles include
calling for UGC services to implement filtering technology to block or remove
infringing content. Online services are also being asked to identify and remove
links to sites that are dedicated to disseminating infringing content.

A statement from the
companies involved said: “These principles reflect a strongly-held commitment
to work cooperatively and constructively across industries to address the
challenge of developing new modes of distribution while protecting intellectual
property and, with a shared goal of promoting a rich, legitimate, and
compelling environment for consumers of online content. While the supporters’
current practices may not strictly adhere to each and every principle, they are
all committed to fully implementing these principles by year’s end.”

The statement continued:
“Widespread adoption of these principles will encourage innovation, enable new
creative expression and further the goal of eliminating infringing content from
UGC services. It will allow innovative business models to develop. Most
importantly, it will benefit consumers by encouraging further cooperation
between the creators of content—from the largest entertainment company to
the individual artist— and the companies that distribute their works.”

Bob Iger, the president
and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said, “These principles offer a road map
for unlocking the enormous potential of online video and user-generated
content. Cooperation among us, aided by emerging technologies, can clear the
way for further growth in the availability of online video in ways that will be
good for consumers, good for copyright owners and good for uploading services.”

Peter Chernin, the
president and COO of Fox Entertainment Group, added, “In the end, technical
innovation has always proved to be a positive driver in shaping our businesses
and spurring greater and more robust distribution models. The principles
unveiled today underscore that conviction by enabling a path that will reward
content owners, distributors, and most importantly, consumers.”

Philippe Dauman, the president
and CEO of Viacom, noted: “We are delighted that so many leading companies have
come together behind a set of principles that provide a framework for
intellectual property to live in harmony with technical advances. These
principles will enable innovative technology and great content to come together
to spur greater innovation and, most importantly, much richer entertainment
experiences for consumers.”

Leslie Moonves, the
president and CEO of CBS Corporation, said, “The cornerstone of the CBS business
is its audience. CBS believes that these principles will assist us in our
ongoing online delivery to our audience of all the great CBS content, and will
help balance the rights and responsibilities of both content owners and sites
accepting user generated content. I applaud the cooperation among the
participating online operators and the networks.”

Jeff Zucker, the president
and CEO of NBC Universal, said: “Today’s announcement marks a significant step
in transforming the Internet to a popular medium that respects the rule of law.
By recognizing the mutual benefits of a technology-based framework to control
piracy, technology and content companies have laid the foundation for the
lawful growth of video on the Internet.”

—By Mansha Daswani