The country music publishing company, Cal IV Entertainment, which has the copyright on 14 No.1 hit singles, has sued YouTube in a class action lawsuit on June 7. Cal IV Entertainment has copyrights on top stars like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
Cal IV Entertainment says that YouTube has had over 60 of its copyrighted songs on its site, and accused the company of "direct, induced, vicarious and contributory copyright infringement."
"YouTube has failed to adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for the termination of repeat-infringing YouTube subscribers and account holders," the complaint reads. "YouTube also fails to monitor works it [had] previously been notified are being infringed."
While we continually hear YouTube's response that they comply with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act by removing videos when they are notified, there is nothing in place to keep the illegal material from being put up again under a different description.
In the end, that's what the court cases will probably hinge upon. It's obviously impossible to police the videos uploaded by companies, as some with deep pockets have tried it and aren't able to do it with a team of people that exist for that sole 
purpose.
The company also says it enrolled in the YouTube Content Verification Program, which was created to eliminate illegal uploads. Cal IV says they continue to find their video content on the site in spite of this.
This definitely does not sound like good news for YouTube and Google. Whatever the outcome, it will definitely have huge implications for digital media and become a landmark case. I am praying for a fair and balanced decision. These companies do not like the DMCA at all.
Posted by: Kimberlee Morrison | June 12, 2007 5:40 PM | Permalink to Comment