Call for New Rules to Regulate Websites

Websites such as YouTube should be subject to increased regulation to protect intellectual property rights, according to a leading media lawyer.

Simon Levine, global head of technology, media and commercial group at DLA Piper, said that a profitable industry has developed on the internet based on the use of other people’s content.

But he warned that such regulation may be very difficult to achieve, given the different legal jurisdictions that exist between nations.

His call comes as Viacom, the owner of MTV, pursues YouTube owner Google through the US courts for damages worth $1bn, claiming “massive infringement” of copyright on the video-sharing website.

Mr Levine, who is from Hull, said that countries should work together to agree a protocol to protect IP rights, in the same way that they have banded together to tackle child pornography on the web.

He said: “YouTube, which is owned by Google, makes substantial sums of money from attracting consumers and members of the public to the site because of its content.

“But the content is not owned by Google, YouTube or original to it; it is in many instances third-party-owned content which is protected by copyright or other intellectual property rights and would normally attract a fee if licensed. So, in simple terms, what YouTube does is generate a substantial amount of profit from using other people’s material.”

A Google UK spokeswoman said the company is committed to copyright enforcement and provides notification and take-down tools to help to protect licence holders.

Mr Levine said: “It is true that they will take down the material if a complaint is made, but that is the wrong way around – it seems like taking the keys to your car and driving it around town without your permission and then, when you complain, returning it after the event.

“The law typically works on the basis that you should ask for permission to use other people’s property first, but sites such as YouTube seem to have avoided that issue by arguing ‘How could we know?’ and ‘It is not our fault’.”

YouTube, which was bought by Google for $1.65bn two years ago, has a huge audience and its users are said to watch more than one billion clips each day.

The Viacom lawsuit, lodged earlier this year at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims that more than 150,000 unauthorised clips of its copyrighted programming have been viewed more than 1.5 billion on times on YouTube.

The lawsuit adds: “Using the leverage of the internet, YouTube appropriates the value of creative content on a massive scale for YouTube’s benefit without payment or licence.”

It claims the website has deliberately chosen not to take reasonable precautions to deter the rampant infringement.

The legal action last week saw the US court judge order Google to hand over records of users who had watched videos on YouTube. The move prompted serious concerns over privacy.

The English Premier League has also launched legal action against YouTube, claiming the website had “knowingly misappropriated” its intellectual property.

Litigation aside, Mr Levine said that such sites should be regulated. He added: “It is easy to regulate media, whether they be films, telecommunications etc, if they originate or are shown within a certain jurisdiction.

“But the problem with the internet and the web is that sites can originate in one jurisdiction, and then be received directly by the public in another one, almost simultaneously.

“So regulation is difficult because of jurisdiction issues and the only way it can ultimately work is for all the countries to get together and agree on a protocol or treaty which deals with the matter in a uniform way.”

He warned that this would be difficult. But he added: “Certainly there is a common consensus around all leading trading nations that child pornography should not be incorporated on sites, and so I do not see why the same cannot be said of intellectual property infringing material.”

Google said in a statement: “Both Google and YouTube have been committed to copyright enforcement, take a variety of measures to discourage users from posting copyrighted material, and have strong policies of taking things down very quickly when requested.

“YouTube already has substantial copyright protection tools and policies in place to protect the interests of content creators large and small – including, user-education such as copyright tips and clear/prominent messaging at the time of user upload, digital hashing technology, YouTube’s repeat-infringer policy (we disable accounts of repeat offenders), 10-minute limit on the length of content uploaded to the site, notification and take-down tools for content companies, and new video identification technology which helps content owners effectively manage their content on the site, whether they choose to block it, monetise it or simply track it.”

Google’s worldwide revenue from YouTube advertising is falling short of expectations, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which said that revenues would probably total about $200m for the full year.

Google did not respond to calls for comment about the legal action or its advertising revenue.

(c) 2008 Yorkshire Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.