YouTube Liable For Copyright Infringements, Court Rules

enigmax
April 20, 2012
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A court in Germany has ruled that YouTube is responsible when its users post videos containing copyright music. On top of its existing ContentID systems, the court in Hamburg now wants YouTube to install additional keyword-based filters that detect when copyrighted material is uploaded.

The battle between YouTube and music rights group GEMA began in earnest when talks between the pair on the issue of royalties completely broke down in 2010. An earlier agreement with GEMA, which represents around 60,000 artists, had expired in 2009.

Rather than come to the negotiated settlement preferred by YouTube, GEMA commenced legal proceedings on copyright grounds against the Google-owned video site. The action concerned 12 specific music videos uploaded by YouTube users to which GEMA owns the rights but for which YouTube paid no royalties. GEMA argued that YouTube hadn’t done enough to monitor content submitted to the site.

Today a court in Hamburg ruled that YouTube is indeed responsible for the material its users upload to the site, despite the site having state-of-the-art filters which aim to detect and remove infringing content.

Presiding Judge Heiner Steeneck said his ruling gave both sides a reason to declare victory. GEMA wanted YouTube to take responsibility for videos uploaded in the past as well as those uploaded in the future but that was denied.

“YouTube isn’t the perpetrator here, it’s those people who illegally upload songs,” Steeneck said. “That’s why YouTube doesn’t have to search all videos uploaded in the past. It only has to help detect videos from the moment it is alerted about possible violations.”

Although YouTube operates its ‘ContentID’ anti-piracy system which detects infringements by way of digital fingerprints, the court ruled that in isolation that is insufficient. In addition YouTube must now filter by keyword too.

Both sides say they are considering their options and are yet to announce whether they will appeal the ruling.

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Mwhahaha

pettiness on top of pettiness.
soon they’ll be producing things and never let anyone see them ever.

would that make you happy GEMA? would it?WOULD IT?
- FUCK
  
  I cant help but feeling:
  
  LOL karmas a bitch, Google.
  “ooh, we’re taking huge steps to reduce piracy.. like censoring search results and keywords”, then they get hit with this.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/ICV7MGUARTTYBMX7SMWGAUZM3Q Eloise
    
    like Kenneth answered I am surprised that people can profit $9926 in 4 weeks on the internet. did you see this web site>>> http://realjobseeker.blogspot.in/
  - Hex20dec
    
    Seriously, what the hell is going on?!?
    
    We need to gather up and come up with a brilliant technique to put an end to all the “Anti-piracy” thing.
- Anonymous
  
  like Jesus implied I am impressed that you can earn $5827 in 1 month on the internet. have you seen this site>>> http://hireworker.wordpress.com/
- Anonymous
  
  what Steven explained I’m startled that anybody can profit $9311 in a few weeks on the computer. have you read this web link>>> http://realjobseeker.blogspot.in/
Anonymous

They’ll both appeal because neither got what they wanted. Personally, if I pulled the strings at YouTube, I would pull the plug on Germany. Make it unavailable in Germany altogether. Let the people scream about that. Have them attack Gema. Let the people be heard.
- Anonymous
  
  They did something similar to the Belgians. They newspapers sued because they were indexing article headlines. So Google dropped their asses, and suddenly they were suing because Google stopped driving traffic to them.
  - Anonymous
    
    Sounds like a “Want my cake and eat it too” situation.
  - Lord of the Files
    
    I agree. I think it would be much easier (perhaps even cheaper as well) to just pull the plug on Germany altogether. It’s become one of the most hostile environments in the world regarding everything internet related, from businesses right on down to the individual users. How is a keyword filter expected to work anyways? Oh look, you just blocked everything that starts with the word “The” (and probably most of the other words found in the dictionary). It truly is guilty until proven innocent there. The rewards for staying can’t possibly outweigh the risks, can they?
    - Anonymous
      
      Even the artists have said they do not want GEMA representing them, and GEMA makes their lives a nightmare. The only way they will get GEMA and the stupidity to stop is to get the people to stand up and demand change. You get them to stand up when they lose something like YouTube and other services and instead see a message of… we had to cut off your whole country because of GEMA… let your elected officials know how that makes your feel.
- ANoi
  
  block Germany…. make the point.
  
  Couldn’t agree more.
  - Anonymous
    
    like Amanda explained I am surprised that a single mom can get paid $9507 in 4 weeks on the computer. did you see this web site >>> http://hireworker.wordpress.com/
- Kicking K
  
  Grooveshark banned German traffic, which was a popular website (ofcause not as popular) but that’s had no effect.
  
  Companies should just tell GEMA to fuck themselves tbh.
  
  I do remember EU making both censorship and forced filters illegal – so why not kick Germany out the EU or better, sue the shit out of them!
  - Guest
    
    Kick germany out of EU…hahaha, history someone?
    
    But yes otherwise I agree on your comments
- Payqfqmi
  
  ^That. Block Germany, problem solved.
  
  Don’t blame Youtube, blame the assclowns who went to court because their heads are full of crap.
- B-Lash
  
  Amen brother.
- MadocComadrin
  
  You don’t need to shut Youtube out in Germany. One of the first (and one of the few bad things) I noticed when I first arrived in Germany (studying abroad from the US) was that GEMA had its grubby hands on a craptonne of stuff.
Anonymous

the verdict would be fine if:

a) the court understood the Internet
b) the court understood the amount of content uploaded to YouTube every hour
c) the court understood filters
d) the court understood the impossibility of the task it now expects YouTube to carry out
e) the court understood the harm that will be done to everyone, including GEMA (not that anyone gives a shit about them!)

the answer, if it were up to me, would be to stop any and all access to YouTube from Germany and see what sort of effect that had. i am sure YouTube could just about withstand the loss of revenue from there. i wonder, however, how long it would be before the public backlash was felt, if there isn’t going to be one already!
the way things seem to be going, the Internet isn’t going to be around much longer. stupid governments, stupid courts and stupid companies are implementing more and more stupid restrictions. the idea of the Internet was to share things, make as much available to as many as possible as easily as possible for as long as possible. not like that now and getting worse by the minute. fancy fucking up the greatest information tool every invented. dont make sense!
- make a point
  
  +1 …. DO iT YouTube !
  
  show the German people how short sighted GEMA are.
  
  YouTube knows the hand that GEMA has ….. Call their bluff …. Block Germany
  
  do it for a day or two and it will be prove the point…..? (what point ? )
  People like YouTube WAY MORE than GEMA or it’s “”clients”" who don’t really have much of a choice of which “trade group” they join.
- Anonymous
  
  A) The answer there is obvious. I can only wonder why the EU Copyright Directive did not protect YouTube in this case for what users upload?
  
  B) 3600 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every hour.
  
  C) A key word match filter is retarded and obsolete next to YouTube existing Content ID system and would only lead to a vastly higher rate of errors.
  
  D) It could be achieved. It is only a question of how much damage is caused in the process.
  
  E) Despite this ruling GEMA and YouTube have no agreement to provide content and for years that has not been resolved. So thousands of copyright owners are making no money from YouTube because their content is blocked.
  
  GEMA is therefore not providing the service it should have and media owners are losing out as a result.
rockadayberry

the moment i come across one of those ´can not be played in your country´ messages on youtube i go to one of the tracker indexes,and download the entire movie,or cd,in flac,of course.
life is still good.
- Kicking K
  
  Exactly, I’m suprised people are trying to target legit alternatives to piracy – YouTube, Grooveshark etc.
Anonymous

Germanys Pirate Party Polls already at 13% but the judges want to increase that to 20%+.
- Anonymous
  
  Real good reason to increase that up a bit.
JAFO

As I see it the way to effectively fight a hopelessly entrenched system is to isolate when the bank, ISP, IRS agent, or basically any “armed officer” attempts to physically enforce the courts ruling and intercede on behalf of common law.

The only reason King George III allowed the USA to form a new sovereign was that the average soldier in the kings army was more afraid of dying in the hands of those wily colonists than he was of dying in the hands of the king. That’s where political rubber meets the road.

Keep a close eye on events like those surrounding Anthony Bologna and George Zimmerman, when the average officer fears internet stardom more than they fear loosing their job then the balance of power will change.
Anonymous

If I were Google, I’d shut down Youtube in Germany, and set up a placeholder page that says: “the Copyright industry has made it impossible for Youtube to exist in Germany. The people responsible are GEMA and [name of president of GEMA and other people supporting it, including politicians]. If you wish to curb these disturbing developments and not see Google and Facebook be closed down, listen to what the German Pirate Party have to say. [URL + relevant quotation]. Here is a poll where you can protest against this kind of censorship: [URL to Avaaz.org or something]“.
Internetlibrary9

Szwaby jebane
Nope

Time to pull out of Germany all together Google just like you did in China.

More fucking idiots ruling on technology that they don’t comprehend.
Ionoff

The solution is Google block it’s services from Germany. All of them, including email and in place have a list of contacts and ways to assist the government to block the inhumane actions performed by GEMA and other organizations. Have the people of the region demand action. Google’s footprint is big enough to create a uproar. Also by blocking Germany, Google is complying with the court order. Maybe everyone should leave a pile of shit at GEMA corporate and then call the authorities for having an biohazard. They can not go against the people who provide the shit content using their reasoning. It is up to GEMA to put a barrier between the shit and the entrance. Once GEMA finds a way to filter shit from gems (look at the musicians and songs they back, this is obviously impossible) then the people will find a way to mask their shit and then call foul on them again.
- Chameleon87
  
  Yeah.. great idea.. let google block every single one of their services in Germany and ruin the little guys businesses which rely on them.
  
  If google were to do this, I wouldn’t have access to my main email address (gmail) and in turn would lose the ability to change passwords on forums or keep updated on PMs I get, keep an email copy of my ebay or paypal transactions or simply look stuff up that was sent to me via email earlier.
  
  It would basically ruin my little electronics repair business the moment it happens. Indeed a great idea.. *facepalm*
  
  Think before you make stupid comments. Just because some retarded “rights collecting society” thinks they can control the net doesn’t mean you’d have to punish the entire country they happen to be in for it. You’d do more harm than good.
  
  On a related note: Music on Youtube in Germany is already pretty much dead “thanks” to the GEMA retards.
  There’s *so* much stuff blocked here that it basically drove me away into pirating music just to listen to it on occasion rather than looking it up on youtube and playing it once or twice, because that simply isn’t possible anymore due to almost everything being blocked.
  
  I’ve got a VM set up with Teamviewer and VNC installed. If anyone wants to see what youtube looks like from a German connection (they’re obviously using geolocations to filter stuff), drop me a mail to the trash address below for the connection details (or in case of Teamviewer, the ID and password).
  
  You can connect either via VNC or Teamviewer to it and basically browse youtube using my connection located in Germany “by proxy”. I’ve done this with a couple guys before and they did comparisons of the search results etc. with pretty devastating results..
  
  Like I said.. if you wanna try it, shoot me a mail to the trash address below and I’ll reply with the connection details. chameleon87@gmx:disqus .net
  
  And no, I’m not trying to spread malware or get your personal details or any of that shit. I’ve been accused of that before. The VM is set to revert to it’s original state (clean XP install with Firefox, VNC and Teamviewer) on every reboot. Whatever you do on there (downloads, browsing history, cookies, changed settings, …) will be lost if you reboot the VM.
  - Chameleon87
    
    shit.. can’t edit. Apparently someone registered the disqus name “gmx”, so disqus turned my email address into a disqus profile link without asking.. great job -.-
    
    Let’s see if a space “fixes” it..
    chameleon87@ gmx.net
Pingback: YouTube could face huge royalty bill for music in German case – CNET | Best News Feed - Daily News Magazine
Guest

As a german citizen I fully agree. Just shut down YouTube and put on the message:
Youtube is offline in Germany.
You can thank the GEMA.
vote Pirate Party
Regards, Google

Then sit back, see what happens.
- http://twitter.com/happyizpunjai happy
  
  Let the mob get angry at GEMA so we can all laugh.. shouldn’t be anything illegal about that
http://twitter.com/Anime4PSP Anime 4 PSP

are they nuts or what? don’t forget to make google liable for what users are searching too -_-
- Krosis
  
  It won’t be long until you’re email’s will get screened for unauthorized copies.
  - Krosis
    
    I can’t believe I just typed you’re. I don’t know how to edit so I’ll just have to live with the shame..
    - Anonymous
      
      Register at Disqus and you can do a lot more than edit. :)
- HugePENISslap
  
  In the UK blank disc’s are allready ‘high priced’ ‘because’ they ‘are used for piracy’
  
  basically bullsh1t for the government to screw ove rpeople with taxes just like carbon tax bullsh1t money making schemes
Pingback: YouTube Liable For Copyright Infringements, Court Rules | Best Seedbox
Anonymous

Taht keywrod fieltr tinhg deosn’t suond vrey effectvie to me. I bet anynoe who wnated to cuold bypsas it.
Anonymous

Oh Germany, first genocide and now this? Tsk-tsk.
radioman

content id sucks, die youtube, die, go torrents, go!
Bubanee

They talk about the ‘pirate world of torrents, file sites’ but yet here is Youtube owned by Google!
foff

Fucking Germans. First they bring the world Hitler and now Gema that wants to censor the whole internet. All of these efforts are a joke. Ten years from now people will look back a laugh at all of these ridiculous attempts to control the internet. They will eventually see through all the lies these copyright orgs are pushing and change laws to make their attempts irrelevant.
- Ho
  
  Let the whole internet censor GEMA :)
Djd

Google shows just disable youtube in Germany and blame it on this judge and on the jewish-backed copyright GEMA
lthrpuphlfx

Copywrong Nazis in Germany….
Who’d a thunk it?
- radioman
  
  remember, even hitler cant find germany on the map ;D http://youtu.be/EWk4vH2WIgQ
Mocell

stupid ? is there a youtube germany or with affect youtube globally?
Anonymous

both of google’s (youtube) owners/founders are jewish.
gary carter

How long before the whole world has to monitor every single thing they say, write, draw, see and hear just to be sure it does not infringe someones copyright?
Andrew Lee

If Google temporarily blocked all services I’m sure they would crack very fast due to public outrage.

It’s a dick move but it needs to happen. The public will prove copyright violations committed by the few is no reason to take actions that will harm the many.
Avan Gore

GEMA and GEZ, every German’s favorite two organizations start with a G.
Pingback: Huh? Totally Clueless German Court Says ContentID Isn’t Good Enough, YouTube … | Šmíruj.cz
Looklookhedidit

Blocking the “Pirate Bay” has not worked fully in any of the countries it has been implemented in.

Blocking youtube in Germany will not work, you cannot censor the internet, countless ways around “blocks” render website blocking useless.
(of all people, I though the readers of torrentfreak would know this, especially with all the coverage on attempted “Pirate Bay” blocks.

Whoever in this comment sections that Germany should be blocked from youtube should slap themselves and repeat “I’m a dumbass and cannot censor the internet” 2X.

YOU CANNOT CENSOR THE INTERNET IN GERMANY, LET ALONE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
- John111
  
  The point is not stopping people from having access to youtube. The point is the significance of the actual act of saying Germany you are not allowed to use this service. Its a political point and not a technological point. I would also like to remind you that 95% (made up random statistic but pretty accurate in my imagination) of internet users have no idea about ways around internet blocks and never will so in effect for these people you can censor the internet,
- gadelat
  
  Oh yeah? Give me free public proxy fast enough for youtube.
  - Chameleon87
    
    You actually don’t really need a fast proxy for getting around YT blocks.
    
    The blocks are actually really simple: the only thing that’s getting blocked is the actual video page.
    
    There is a Firefox plugin called ProxTube “exploiting” just that. It recognizes the “not available in your country” page and asks to reload the page to unlock it.
    What it does: loads the video page (the HTML part) via the proxy, then immediately disables itself again, so the video downloads/buffers using your own connection rather than the proxy, which works just fine.
- Anonymous
  
  It’s not like ‘blocking’ a site from within Germany, like they tried with TPB, it’s about Google refusing to provide Youtube to Germany. That’s vastly different, and is much more likely to work (although it will, of course, still be possible to circumvent).
Toysoldier

The problem is, that i.e Sony actually makes a lot of money on YouTube. Someone from Sony said recently, that he was actually pretty tired of all the GEMA’s of the world because they were actually costing Sony a lot of money. But he couldn’t (wouldn’t) do anything about it.
Otherwise blocking Germany for a month or so from YouTube would get the point across.
Knux

All the while, thousands upon thousands of videos are flagged incorrectly by their contentID system already, now multiply that by 100…
The Muss

EU is not gonna let them do whatever they want
Truth

blocking lists of words never ever works as expected. e.g. a porn filter blocks the word puta (spanish for whore) and some one in a medical/health related department complains that they have no access to any information on the entire internet about amPUTAtion.
- Anonymous
  
  Ha! Many, many years ago now, Scunthorpe council managed to block all of its employees from their own web site due to an over-zealous content filter.
  
  Hint: See characters 2 through 5 in the name.
Anonymous

Germany == east Texas. Why is anyone surprised? They still have their Nazi roots well implemented.
- Chameleon87
  
  As a German: FUCK YOU and your retarded prejudices.
GEMA Sucks

I heard that GEMA is a cannibalistic group that considers the human fetus a delicacy. I also heard that they’ll consume anyone whole unless they’re paid not to.
Fuckyou

Today is Hitlers birthday n this is the present Germany gives to the world.

“Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945)”
http://www.yourspecialsomeone.com/ Webcreatingsolutions

OK, So find out who the 60,000 artists are and stop buying their crap!
Checking out something on youtube sometimes helps the person decide to purchase. They should be happy somebody wants to see their junk at all.
That’s as usual “just my opinion”.
Desu75

A title-based censor would be disastrous. So, if someone does a review of Game X, then the video will be blocked because “Game X” is protected? BULLSHIT. “Justin Beiber is shit music, go listen to some fucking Led Zeppelin” O SHI- I just triggered 2 censors!
Pingback: Youtube Liable For Copyright Infringements
Zoltanric

I would just take down youtube in germany. fuck ‘em.
Guest

The more interesting question is whether EU court rulings are more important (in a legal matter speaking) then German court rulings. If it would be the case, then Youtube would not have to do it, and just say the court ordered it to do something ilegal, period.
- Anonymous
  
  I think that EU law trumps national law for EU members.
Finnfag

I agree with others that Youtube should cencor Germany instead. Let the germans install keyword cencorship everywhere if they feel like it but the rest of us should have nothing to do with this.
Shavez

I agree with youtube.
gema finances are low.. so they trying to rip in all possible way.
Pingback: YouTube Responsável por violações de direitos autorais, decide tribunal
Guest

Personally I would remove access to youtube (short-term) from Germany, issuing a passive-aggressive statement along the lines of “Due to legal issues with the GEMA we have little choice put to suspend access to Germany to this service until such a time the differences can be resolved”. Wait for the public outcry to build and respond appropriately. Of course this strategy could also backfire badly depending on implementation. Thoughts?
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Nazifart

I agree, block Germany.
Cornchips

I’ve found so many artists on Youtube that its ridiculous. A lot of them probably part of the GEMA group. If they don’t appeal it’s lose lose for both parties. Sounds like GEMA is just trying to see how far they can take the bluff and get a better deal from Youtube.Bloody pillocks..
Anonymous

Youtube is responsible? Filter on keywords???
This judge is mad. He’s ignoring the “safe harbor” directive from the EUCD (which derives from the DMCA, the “safe harbor” being quite the only good thing in this treaty), along with previous EU court rulings. As if that was not enough, he downright ignores common sense.

Simply put, Youtube should appeal, so that they can escalate to EU courts if necessary. (In Europe, you can’t appeal to EU court if you didn’t first use up all national processes.)
Rex Schrader

This title is very misleading – it should be prefixed with a “Germany:” or similar. Considering that there IS an ongoing lawsuit between Viacom and YouTube, this is a big deal.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Piers-Fambely/526203333 Piers Fambely

If I were Google, I’d turn of access to all Google producs for a week or so to anyone in Germany…just give the people a hint of what they could do and see the backlash.

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YouTube Liable For Copyright Infringements, Court Rules

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