IP: “Copyright Owners Denied Class Status in YouTube Suit”

From IDG News Service:

A federal court in New York has denied class certification to copyright owners in an infringement lawsuit against YouTube over unauthorized hosting of content, stating that copyright claims have only superficial similarities.
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Generally speaking, copyright claims are poor candidates for class-action treatment, the Judge wrote in his ruling on Wednesday. “Each claim presents particular factual issues of copyright ownership, infringement, fair use, and damages, among others,” he added.
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The suit was filed in 2007 by The Football Association Premier League and some music publishers and ran in parallel with the Viacom suit.
Citing the Viacom case, the Judge said that YouTube does not generate infringing material, and unless an exception applies, the DMCA requires that YouTube have legal knowledge or awareness of the specific infringement to be liable for it.

Read the Complete Article
Note: In 2010 ARL, ALA, EFF, Internet Archive and Others Filed an Amicus Brief in this Case
Summary and Full Text of Brief

Full Text of Opinion

Opinion: FootballAssoc_V_Youtube by LJ’s infoDOCKET

Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Companies (Publishers/Vendors), News, Video Recordings