Hello everyone, How is it so that websites like myspace, youtube, Google Video, etc can legally post copyrighted clips (sometimes entire episodes!) on their sites without getting into any legal trouble when people like me, that have a little known site, can get sued over night for posting the same thing? It just really pisses me off sometimes when it's those of us that play by the rules, only to get in trouble. Any thoughts?
Because they don't post anything, their users post it and they are the ones breaking the law, not YouTube et al. Same with P2P.
Yea but it's hosted on THEIR site. My users make their own videos too and then post it on my site just like youtube does.
YouTube removes videos if it's brought to their attention that a video is infringing copyright - just do the same.
Add a little 'Web 2.0', let you users report videos and when the reports hit a certain treshold, it gets buried automatically. Self-moderating is the best there is for a busy webmaster.
Yeah only if a video is REPORTED to YOU for a copyright violation, its only then you are removing it. IT
Skunker, Usually the case is that once you agree to take down content, then you are no longer liable. Were you actually sued by some person/company? This sounds very strange without some preemptive notice.
They'll never sue. They may threaten you, but it's just a scare tactic to take down the content (which is what they want in the end)
The same way Rapidshare and Megaupload can host all sorts of file! Legal or illegal! And still stay outta trouble! It's a loophole in the law. If the content can be posted/uploaded without the consent of the webmaster, it automatically nullifies his liability for any sort of copyright infringement! Abhishek
This is pretty much correct. As long as you don't "know" the content is there, you're okay. If in your terms you state this and tell users to report copyright violations - and you remove them when reported, you should be fine.