Host Innocent In UGC Copyright Suit

• By theWHIR.com , August 28, 2008

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By David Hamilton, theWHIR.com

August 28, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- YouTube-like streaming video host Veoh (veoh.com) has won a watershed civil suit that experts say will have lasting affect for cases where copyright holders sue hosts for copyrighted content posted by users.

On Wednesday, a California judge ruled in favor of Veoh, which hosted 10 videos belonging to adult entertainment company Titan Media (titanmedia.com) department Io Group.

"The ruling should be required reading for the executives of every 'Web 2.0' business that relies on 'user-generated content,' wrote legal analyst Fred von Lohmann in an article for non-profit research organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org). He notes that many sites like YouTube and MySpace have been sued for copyright infringement, however, "this is the first case to get to a final ruling, and it's a total victory for Veoh."

Responsible hosting practices were one of the reasons Veoh won the case. According to the official court report, once Veoh finds or is notified of a user who has uploaded infringing content after a first warning, the user's account is deleted. The user's email address is then blocked from opening a new account.

The court also noted that requiring users to agree to not publish copyrighted material does not fully immunize online service providers from liability. However, they provide copyright owners with limited injunctive relief.

Io accused Veoh of not implementing its repeat infringer policy in a reasonable manner. However, the court found that Veoh often responds to infringement notices the same day they are received and has created a fingerprinting method to ban repeat offenders. Since its inception, Veoh has terminated 1,096 users for repeat copyright violations.

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