A US appeals court on Thursday revived a billion-dollar lawsuit filed by entertainment giant Viacom accusing Google-owned website YouTube of knowingly profiting from pirated video clips. The judge handling the appeal reversed a lower court's decision two years ago to toss out the case, saying "a reasonable jury could find that YouTube had actual knowledge or specific awareness of infringing activity on its website."
Viacom praised the ruling as a definitive message that "intentionally ignoring theft is not protected by the law." Google focused on a portion of the decision that weakened the legal threat by concluding that a set of YouTube features at issue in the case did indeed merit safe haven under the law.
"All that is left of the Viacom lawsuit that began as a wholesale attack on YouTube is a dispute over a tiny percentage of videos long ago removed from YouTube," a Google spokeswoman said in response to an AFP inquiry. "Nothing in this decision impacts the way YouTube is operating," she continued. "YouTube will continue to be a vibrant forum for free expression around the world."
Viacom sued Google and YouTube in March 2007, arguing that they condoned pirated video clips at the website to boost its popularity. The lawsuit was merged with a similar complaint being pursued by the English Premier League, which said football clips were also routinely posted on YouTube without authorisation. Viacom's suit charged that YouTube was a willing accomplice to "massive copyright infringement" and sought more than one billion dollars in damages.
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