YouTube Wins Long-Running Copyright Case

YouTube won its latest copyright infringement case.

Europe's top court ruled on Tuesday that platforms are not liable for copyright violations on content uploaded by third parties unless the companies fail to take sufficient action.

The case represents the latest development in a long battle between the $1 trillion creative industry and online platforms, like YouTube, with the creative industry seeking compensation for unauthorized works that are uploaded.

The court concluded that "online platforms do not themselves make a communication to the public of copyright-protected content illegally posted online by users of those platforms unless those operators contribute, beyond merely making those platforms available, to giving access to such content to the public in breach of copyright."

However, the platforms can still be liable if they fail to deploy tools that serve to tackle copyright violations or if they provide tools for illegally sharing content.

A spokesperson for YouTube said the platform is "a leader in copyright and supports rights holders being paid their fair share."

"That's why we've invested in state-of-the-art copyright tools which have created an entirely new revenue stream for the industry," the spokesperson added in a statement to The Hill. "In the past 12 months alone we have paid $4B to the music industry, over 30% of which comes from monetized user-generated content."

European Union rules exempt platforms from liability if they remove infringing content as soon as they're notified of the violations.

The EU last year added a rule which required platforms to install filters that block users from uploading copyrighted material, although many of its member nations have yet to implement the law at the national level.

These online platforms and social media should work to police the posting of unauthorized, illegal, or hateful content, an issue that European Union regulators are targeting with tough new rules that could come into force next year.

"As currently stands, operators of online platforms do not, in principle, themselves make a communication to the public of copyright-protected content illegally posted online by users of those platforms," the European Union Court of Justice said.

"However, those operators do make such a communication in breach of copyright where they contribute, beyond merely making those platforms available, to giving access to such content to the public," the judge said.

YouTube found itself in trouble after Frank Peterson, a music producer, sued the company and Google in Germany over the uploading to YouTube by users in 2008 of several phonograms to which he holds the rights.

In a second case, publishing group Elsevier took legal action against file-hosting service Cyando in Germany after its users uploaded several Elsevier works on its platform in 2013 without consent.

A German court sought advice from the EU Court of Justice, which ruled on both cases on Tuesday. Existing EU rules exempt YouTube and others from such liability regarding copyright when they are told of violations and remove them.