Another victory for YouTube in the copyright battle

Google has won another round in the copyright battle between big media companies and YouTube.

The latest court case took place in Spain, where Telecino – a broadcaster – brought charges against YouTube, arguing it should be responsible when users upload material in breach of copyright law.

Google, YouTube’s owner, argued that it had built tools that enable users to remove content that infringes copyright. YouTube developed its Content ID service specifically for content creators. The tool allows the 1,000 media companies who use it to remove edited copyright material and alerts them if something is wrongfully uploaded.

Google claimed that social media sites would “grind to a halt” if they had to screen every piece of uploaded content.

The Spanish court agreed with Google.

“Under European law, owners of content are considered best placed to monitor how their work is being used rather than service providers such as YouTube,” reports the Financial Times.

This is the second case that YouTube has won on similar grounds. The previous case was brought by media company Viacom in the United States.

Read more:

The Financial Times, YouTube wins Spanish copyright case, 23 September 2010

The Financial Times, Viacom loses $1bn copyright case to YouTube, 24 June 2010

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