Why YouTube's Legal WIN Really Matters - Steve Rosenbaum - MediaBizBloggers

Cover image for  article: Why YouTube's Legal WIN Really Matters - Steve Rosenbaum - MediaBizBloggers

Back in 2007, when Viacom filed suit against YouTube, there was a real sense that web video might have the same dynamics as music sharing. Viacom, in filing a billion dollar suit against the then venture-backed and private YouTube, was trying to shut them down. By the time that Google purchased YouTube, at least in part to insulate the investors from what was bound to be a massive legal expense and the potential for a massive judgment, the site was already growing at a massive rate.

2007 is more than three years ago, and things have dramatically changed.

The volume of video moving to the web has increased beyond anyone's expectations. The amount of original production has grown as well. And the emerging outlets for gathering and organizing video that is neither 'pro' nor 'amateur' has emerged. The 'pro-am' market is exploding.

So, driving all this innovation in web video is the core concept of the Safe Harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). And looming over any web services company that provides video upload, hosting, and delivery has been the threat that Viacom might win, in essence overturning DMCA's safe harbor provision with a court ordered requirement to review and clear copyright before any video was posted. Had this happened, user-generated content would have been severely curtailed, as the risk of publishing material that might inadvertently include copyrighted material.

So, while the billion dollar court case loomed over the web video space, time stood still.

Now the case is over. Yes, Viacom says they'll appeal. But a Summary Judgment is pretty hard thing to overcome. It means that the Judge threw the case out on its merits (or lack thereof) before a trial began.

It means that the DMCA stands. It means that video creation, upload, storage and delivery won't be saddled with an impossible standard of prior restraint. It also doesn't mean that stealing and uploading video is allowed, or that hosts that encourage that kind of behavior or look the other way will be exempt. But it's a big win for the emerging video distribution, aggregation, and curation eco-system that's rapidly emerging as a standard on the web.

So, if you're a website that needs video content, and you can only afford to make a little, now you're going to be assured of an increasing flow of content from uploaded content from pro-sumer makers and contributors.

It's a big decision for YouTube, and for web video makers and platform providers.

In May 183 million Web surfers watched nearly 34 billion videos according to comScore. There's no doubt that the web and video were made for each other - and now the era of web video can begin in earnest, with the threat of the Viacom Law suit no longer hanging over the industry.

Steve Rosenbaum is founder and CEO of Magnify.net, a NYC-based platform for Realtime Video Discovery and Curation. He has been building and growing consumer-content businesses since 1992. He was the creator and Executive Producer of MTV UNfiltered, a series that was the first commercial application of user-generated video in commercial TV. Steve can be contacted at steve@magnify.net Follow Steve Rosenbaum on Twitter: www.twitter.com/magnify

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