Copyright Violations and Social Networking Sites
09/11/2009Social networking sites have been hotbeds of copyright issues. Copyright holders have the exclusive right to distribute, display, or promote their materials. In the event that any one of a copyright owner's rights is infringed, the law provides for criminal sanctions and civil liability against the direct infringer. Traditionally, the law also provides that a copyright owner may be able to recover civil damages from social networks hosting an infringing workin lieu of the direct infringerunder the theories of "contributory infringement" or "vicarious liability.
Viacom and YouTube are currently litigating over the appropriate application of these provisions to social networking Web sites. In early 2007, Viacom brought a lawsuit against YouTube in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for copyright infringement, seeking damages of $1 billion. Viacom claims that a large portion of the videos displayed on YouTube are copyrighted materials. Of particular concern to Viacomparent of MTV and Comedy Central, among other media outletsis the public performance, display, and reproduction of approximately 150,000 allegedly infringing video clips on the YouTube Web site. Specifically, Viacom has alleged that YouTube has fostered infringement for the purpose of profiting from the illegal conduct of others.
Copyright law in the social networking context remains in flux because courts are facing difficult issues arising out of rapidly advancing and evolving technology. The ease with which Internet users are able to distribute copyrighted information has dramatically increased the prevalence of copyright infringement. Copyright law is being stretched to its limits in order to determine how best to protect copyright holders as well as Internet Web sites that merely host information. Thus, until a resolution is reached, a Web site operator should take extra precautions to ensure protection under the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA.
