YouTube has lost a case in a Hamburg court this week over music video clips.
The ruling states YouTube is now responsible for the content users post to the site. Additionally, the ruling wants Google to add filters to the site that will identify content users post whose rights are held by GEMA, the German royalty collection group.
YouTube's response: "Today's ruling confirms that YouTube ... [ read the full article ]
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Now Google says that they can't be responsible since on their term of service it stated that if they get copyright letter from the owner of the video/music then user has 10 days to remove it or has the right to give info about that someone that uploaded the video/music if the owner wants to sue you.
Huh, Germans seem to get more and more stubborn these days. I mean I understand that the artists and what not chave to protect themselves but it seems that things lately in the copyright area have to going too far these days with cherry picking, but then again it could be just my opinion on it :)
More & more greed. Copyright I get. I want "CREDIT" for my work. If there are rewards attached to the work, I want in as well, but if the rewards are negligible, then I want in on the photo shoot at least.
I mean, if I did a song that struck a note against child abuse, but some idiot went out & made a home video glamorizing the thrill & advantages of beating your kids - then yeah; I'd want the damn thing yanked. An extreme example I know, but not necessarily out of context.
As far as "fair use" is concerned, the 'artists' are just going to have to suck it up. If the fans aren't making money, then ugly as the video is, it's meant to be flattery. Or, in the case of back yard wrestling, nothing more than emotional content.
GEMA is nothing more than the German version of BMI or ASCAP over here in the US & are trying to validate their existence of a dying world of legalized extortion. It's exactly like Blackwater calling themselves a Security Firm when in fact they are outright mercenaries with exceptional lawyers & government contracts.
Just like Megaupload or your landlord, Google can NOT be 100% accountable for what people do on their site. It's bad enough they have to deal with the aftermath cleaning up once the authorities wreck the place when they leave... Now they too have to be the actual police themselves?
Let's put it this way... None of us went to the police academy. Yet a cop will be the first to bitch about letting them do their job. Yet the courts are now telling the civilian sector to do just that; do the polices job & report to us or we'll throw you in jail.
And under what authority? Last I heard that's vigilantism. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. When's it going to stop folks?
