Veoh not liable for pirated video
September 16, 2009
A federal judge in the US has ruled that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbour provisions protected Veoh, the video-sharing site – from liability for hosting pirated clips uploaded by users. “The DMCA does not place the burden of ferreting out infringement on the service provider,” the judge said.
Universal Music had sued Veoh for copyright infringement in 2007, alleging that the Michael Eisner-backed site was wrongly hosting music videos, Universal alleged that the site was “a massive copyright infringer that has built its business on the back of others’ intellectual property.”
Veoh argued that it took steps aimed at preventing pirated clips from appearing on the site, including using filtering technology. Veoh also said that it removed clips upon request, as per the DMCA’s safe harbour provisions.