YouTube Wins Summary Judgment Against Viacom in Copyright Infringement Case

YouTube has won a summary judgment against Viacom regarding a lawsuit filed by the media conglomerate against the video sharing site in 2007 alleging that YouTube willingly and knowingly committed copyright infringement.  The English Premier League via its commercial rights division was also a plaintiff in the case along with Viacom

At issue were the allegations by Viacom that YouTube was willingly allowing its users to upload video from its libraries and argued that the site did not enjoy DMCA protection under the safe harbor provision because it felt that YouTube was allowing and endorsing the activity and did not do enough to stop it effectively. 

Earlier today, the judge presiding over the case found in favor of YouTube concluding that the site did indeed qualify for safe harbor protection, shielding it from undue liability and allowing the site enough leeway to work with license/copyright holders in order to remove such infringing content without the threat of lawsuits, provided it removed the content in a timely manner.

Viacom has released its own statement on the case and plans to appeal the decision.