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Ruling in Veoh Networks case says video-sharing companies are not solely responsible for policing piracy that may take place on their sites.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A U.S. judge has thrown out a copyright infringement case against Veoh Networks Inc, an Internet video start-up with high-profile Hollywood backers, ruling that video-sharing companies are not solely responsible for policing piracy that may take place on their sites. The California court dismissed a copyright infringement suit by adult entertainment company Io Group Inc against Veoh and granted summary judgment to the defendants. The complaint argued Veoh had not done enough to stop site users of its site from uploading unauthorized clips of 10 Io adult sex films. Judge Howard Lloyd of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found that Veoh worked actively to protect copyright owners and so qualified for "safe harbor" protections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). "The DMCA was intended to facilitate the growth of electronic commerce, not squelch it," the judge said in siding with Veoh. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) limits liability for Internet service providers that act quickly to block access to pirated online materials, once the copyright holder notifies a Web site of specific acts of infringement. The ruling draws a line between Napster, the music-sharing service that enabled a wave of music piracy early this decade, and the new crop of video-sharing services that take steps to protect against piracy of copyrighted materials. Io had argued that Veoh should be required to prescreen videos... [ Read more on www.internetnews.com ]

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