The AP is reporting today that Viacom has officially filed for appeal in the YouTube copyright infringement case. You may remember that as the long running case that finally came to an end a few months back. The verdict affirmed YouTube’s protection under “safe harbor” provisions. This means YouTube cannot be held liable for copyrighted content that is uploaded by users, provided they make a good faith effort to remove it. Viacom is seeking over $1 billion in damages.
Viacom has retained well-known attorney Theodore Olson to continue the legal battle. Olson has called the last ruling “a very bad decision”. Speaking about bad decisions, the original case seemed to turn against Viacom when it was revealed that Viacom employees were instructed to surreptitiously upload copyrighted content to YouTube in the early days. Some of those Viacom clips are alleged to be included in the lawsuit.
Viacom seems determined to spare no expense in its quest to fundamentally break the internet. Do you think they will succeed?
