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Viacom is back in YouTube’s face. The electronic media mogul has been granted its chance to reopen its case of 60,000 counts of copyright infringement against YouTube. A little over 5 years ago, YouTube was exonerated of the charge based on safe harbor laws. YouTube didn’t have active knowledge of specific infringements of copyright, and so was judged not accountable for what material users uploaded.
As these sorts of cases keep cropping up, we are challenged to solidly answer the question: how free is the internet, and how free should it be? Anti-piracy litigation has greatly divided opinions, especially along the lines of rich business owners and the everyday users of the internet.
Google bought YouTube at $1.76 billion in 2006. The company of course has strong legal backing, but is now back in court defending itself against “rampant copyright infringement,” with Viacom presenting evidence from emails and internal memos that YouTube did in fact know and yet not act against instances of copyright infringement. YouTube is not legally required to monitor content, but after Viacom’s previous litigation has in fact done so, developing software to prevent copyright violation.
Nevertheless, Viacom is still seeking its $1 billion, and as of Thursday, courts are opening that door.
