Viacom loses their case against Google/YouTube

This long running case has been an interesting one to watch -- it was a passionate fight for both parties. Today, Viacom lost their battle in their pursuit to sue Google for copyright infringement. Not only was it a huge loss for Viacom, but on the other side of the fence, it was a huge win for the internet.

Today, the court granted our motion for summary judgment in Viacom’s lawsuit with YouTube. This means that the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. The decision follows established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online.

Google can now operate YouTube without fear of being sued, as long as they work with content creators to remove copyright violations when requested to. This is basically reinforces what the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) was created to do.