What steps can i take to remove myself from all liability when i host a youtube clone? Anyone could upload something that was copyrighted, and i don't want my hosting provider to have grounds to boot me off. What avenues do i need to provide to content copyright holders for removal of content, and is that enough?
You should hire an attorney to craft a good terms of use policy, you should read about the DMCA safe harbor requirements (which apply if you or your site is located in the US), and you should be aware that if a company wants to sue you or try to get your site taken down they can try and you will have to be ready to fight them.
1) That's something you need to work out with your host. 2) There is nothing you can do to prevent being sued. 3) Consult with an attorney where you live and make sure it is applicable to where you will be hosting.
You can be sued for any reason - you can never eliminate that possibility. That being said, if you take down the content upon notification, you will probably not hear from the vast majority of copyright holders after it is removed. YouTube is currently facing a billion dollar lawsuit and they have all the legal disclaimers and take down content upon notification - and that didn't prevent them for having lawsuits filed against them. As far as a clone goes, I hope you have some incentive to entice people to want to upload their copyrighted videos vs. idiots who just repost someone elses content. It is going to be virtually impossible to compete with the major players who are already established and have compensation programs in place if you don't have a hook.
You can borrow the same wording that other companies use as your disclaimer. Right now, most people get away with simply claiming they are just "hosting" a site and not responsible for user content. I believe that very soon the laws will change and that may no longer be an excuse. And it depends on your success. The more successful you are, the bigger target you become for copyright infringement entities. If you only had a few thousand members, you will be under the radar. But you don't want that, you want to have a few million... Right? You deserve a piece of the pie too, I think My company is currently selling anti-piracy software to the music/film/software industry. Soon, we will be able to find pirated software anytime, anywhere if it is on the Net. And we can destroy it remotely as well. With or without your consent. And we will tag the individual who stole the property, and you will become "marked" much like a sex offender. Sound harsh? Stealing is stealing. Whether we justify it in our minds or not, does not make it lawful or ethical. In some cultures and in different times people had their hands cut off if they were convicted of theft. Unfortunately, people today seem to override their own moral values for free stuff that they did not purchase. Inside they know it is stealing, but it is like a kid in a candy store. Call me bad names if you like, but what I am suggesting is to think BEFORE you steal. That's all. The law is on the side of the creator of intellectual property, they should have the final say on what happens to their property. And these laws are clamping down on theft on a large scale, one court case at a time. In this case, possession is not 9/10ths of the law and ignorance of copyright laws may soon not be an excuse to allow anyone to steal intellectual or personal property for display on a website or for public exhibition. So the "disclaimer" will not protect your site, you will have to be proactive and police your users. My thoughts for you are to be very firm, like YouTube, about your piracy policy. If and when the creator of the video complains, and you are certain they are the creator, then take it off of your site out of courtesy and respect. This will create good karma for you and your cool site! Best of luck with that too! I hope you have lots of success!
Seriously? You can "remotely destroy" content? You think copyright infringes should be treated like sex offenders? I really hope you are joking :/
This should be interesting. Sounds like you will be having some fun legal issues. Not sure what you are describing is legal anyhow, but if you goof once and "destroy" someone's legal content by mistake you and your company will be inviting a world of legal/criminal hurt.
"And we can destroy it remotely as well. With or without your consent." having a programming background, this would be impossible unless the originating content had a callback of some sort. anyone who rips a dvd and throws it on bittorrent, isn't going to install an anti-piracy callback in their ripped content so you can recall it on them. Moreover, gaining access illegally to other peoples content, regardless of if there is illegal material creates a whole new bunch of fun legal problems for yourself. You cant come busting into my house guns blazing if you hear me playing a ripped U2 mp3 really loud. Breaking into someones server to remove content is just as illegal as hosting the ripped content.