4 ms·

I think the reason is that their system is not DMCA. They respect the DMCA but also provide a stronger (for the rightsholders) service that was triggered here.

I think the reason is that their system is not DMCA. They respect the DMCA but also provide a stronger (for the rightsholders) service that was triggered here. ContentID makes them judge, jury and executioner.

btilly 14y ago
That would be a good reason. If so then I am sure that they thought through the liability issues (if any). I'm curious if there are any interesting ones. The only thing that comes to mind would be a case where the ownership of a piece of IP is disputed. ContentID lead to Youtube recognizing that it was copyrighted, and paying money to the person that they thought was the copyright holder. The copyright holder now sues Youtube for infringing on copyright, and Youtube has deep pockets and no safe harbor. I am not sure how realistic this case would be.
- theevocater 14y ago
  This happens all the time. They go through the proper DMCA process (which google obeys) and then correctly register with ContentID (theory). In reality, the big publishers stomp all over little guys and they have no standing to do anything.
chongli 14y ago
Shouldn't such an extralegal system make them into a publisher exercising editorial control over the content? Wouldn't this then disqualify them for safe harbor?
- theevocater 14y ago
  I think the usual analogy is one of a private space. Youtube is Google's private pool that is nominally open to the public. If you break their rules, you get thrown out.
- dpe82 14y ago
  DMCA Safe Harbor protections apply to copyrighted material stored "at the direction of a user". YouTube is not making judgements about the content - if they did, it would no longer be "at the direction of a user." Instead they've set up a system that lets other users (copyright holders) control content on the site. YouTube does not try to figure out whether those users' actions are valid - if they did, /then/ they could lose safe harbor. DMCA does not explicitly require ContentID type systems, but it's becoming recognized as best practice as it makes it easier to show a court "hey, we're trying to be good corporate citizens here." It also pacifies the content companies which helps prevent lawsuits in the first place. Source: currently doing research on the topic for our own service.

btilly 14y ago

That would be a good reason. If so then I am sure that they thought through the liability issues (if any). I'm curious if there are any interesting ones. The only thing that comes to mind would be a case where the ownership of a piece of IP is disputed. ContentID lead to Youtube recognizing that it was copyrighted, and paying money to the person that they thought was the copyright holder. The copyright holder now sues Youtube for infringing on copyright, and Youtube has deep pockets and no safe harbor. I am not sure how realistic this case would be.

theevocater 14y ago
This happens all the time. They go through the proper DMCA process (which google obeys) and then correctly register with ContentID (theory). In reality, the big publishers stomp all over little guys and they have no standing to do anything.

chongli 14y ago

Shouldn't such an extralegal system make them into a publisher exercising editorial control over the content? Wouldn't this then disqualify them for safe harbor?

theevocater 14y ago
I think the usual analogy is one of a private space. Youtube is Google's private pool that is nominally open to the public. If you break their rules, you get thrown out.
dpe82 14y ago
DMCA Safe Harbor protections apply to copyrighted material stored "at the direction of a user". YouTube is not making judgements about the content - if they did, it would no longer be "at the direction of a user." Instead they've set up a system that lets other users (copyright holders) control content on the site. YouTube does not try to figure out whether those users' actions are valid - if they did, /then/ they could lose safe harbor. DMCA does not explicitly require ContentID type systems, but it's becoming recognized as best practice as it makes it easier to show a court "hey, we're trying to be good corporate citizens here." It also pacifies the content companies which helps prevent lawsuits in the first place. Source: currently doing research on the topic for our own service.