A lawsuit, similar to the ones filed by copyright holders
against YouTube, MySpace, and others, came to an end today.
The Io Group - Veoh lawsuit was filed back in 2006 after Io Group, a
distributor of adult films, had found that clips from ten of its movies had
been uploaded to Veoh.
Io just sued without any kind of previous warning. On
Wednesday, a California Judge dismissed the copyright infringement case. Judge Howard R. Lloyd with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California eventually agreed with Veoh’s defense. Veoh defended its position
under the “safe harbor” protections of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act
(DMCA), which protects it from liability as long as it removes the copyrighted
material when alerted by the copyright owner.
"The record presented demonstrates that, far from
encouraging copyright infringement, Veoh has a strong DMCA policy, takes active
steps to limit incidents of infringement on its Web site and works diligently
to keep unauthorized works off its Web site," Judge Lloyd wrote in his
decision.
One of the things that helped Veoh win the battle is the
fact that at the time, without knowing Io’s intentions and before the case was
filed, the company decided to shift to a new direction and remove all the adult
materials from its pages.
The users of the site and not the company were responsible
for the uploaded files. YouTube might feel encouraged by the decision as it is
involved in a similar trial. Viacom sued Google and its YouTube for $1 billion.
Although the two cases are not so similar, “the reason that this case is such
good news for YouTube and other service providers, is that the court recognizes
it is impossible to eliminate infringement and that Veoh should be recognized
for the hard work they are doing,” said Eric Goldman, an associate professor at
Santa Clara University School of Law and director of its High Tech Law Institute
for the
New York Times.
The Veoh Networks portfolio includes Veoh.com, one of the most popular video
hosting services on the Internet, and VeohTV, a free downloadable application
that turns online video into Internet Television. Veoh.com has more than
100,000 content publishers - from CBS, Lions Gate, PBS, National Lampoon, Road
and Track and Us Magazine to thousands of independent filmmakers and content
producers - and currently attracts over 21 million unique users per month.
Veoh Networks is a privately held company that is backed by
leading technology and media investors, including Goldman Sachs, Shelter
Capital Partners, Spark Capital, Michael Eisner's Tornante Company, Time Warner
Inc., Tom Freston and Jonathan Dolgen.
Earlier this year, Veoh announced a distribution agreement
with Warner Bros. Television Group to launch channels that will include
TheWB.com and KidsWB.com – the two new advertiser-supported broadband
destinations WBTVG unveiled in late April at a press conference in New York City.
The channels will launch in mid-September, providing WBTVG’s
branded destinations with the added reach of the distribution partners’ target
audiences, while giving consumers greater access to the studio’s programming.
