Viacom, NBC Fight For Paid Content Rights
Why are Viacom and NBC Universal seeking to make their DMCA opinions known to Judge Howard Lloyd in the matter of IO Group v. Veoh Networks via a “amici curiae” brief? Because the outcome ”may have an impact on the numerous lawsuits pending against YouTube, Grouper, Bolt, and other Internet Websites that operate similarly to Veoh.”
Viacom has a $1 billion lawsuit in progress against Google’s YouTube for “massive copyright infringement.” NBC has been a good cop, bad cop Google tease; NBC enjoys the fruits of YouTube promotion, while taking every opportunity to attack its DMCA fueled business model, without intitiating a direct lawsuit on its own behalf, however.
Viacom and NBC assert they “have an interest in “the development of the law of intellectual property generally, and particularly with respect ot the DMCA and its application to services such as Veoh”:
Viacom and NBC have a “direct, specific, and tangible interest” in:
Whether Veoh’s activities, and those of Internet Websites that operate in a manner similar to Veoh, are entitled to the protections of the “safe harbor” of Section 513(c) of the DMCA.
They are not, as Viacom and NBC seek to prove:
Many of Viacom’s and NBCU’s most valuable copyrighted works have been copied, performed, and disseminated without authorization by video-sharing Websites such as Veoh, YouTube and others. Viacom and NBCU have a strong interest in preserving the strength and viability of all of their legal rights and remedies in response to such conduct.
In WikiYou to Aaron Cohen: ‘YOU Screwed Over BOLT! Not once but twice!’ I cite my interview with Cohen in Februrary when he believed he could save Bolt from disintegrating due to copyright infringement liability: “2007 will be the year in which the Internet community and traditional copyright holders find economic partnerships that are mutually beneficial,” he told me.
Cohen was unable to find such financial harmony for Bolt, after all; His turnaround vision unraveled. Bolt.com is history. Bolt has “ceased” operations and its creditors are being redirected to a third party advisor of “secured and unsecured creditors.”
All online video sharing sites fueled by no need to pay for content, DMCA driven business models, risk the same fate as Bolt, even YouTube.
ALSO: Google Demands NBC Universal Spread YouTube Fair Use Gospel
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