A California federal court judge, Judge Howard Lloyd, has thrown out a copyright infringement suit against online video site Veoh. The suit was brought by adult entertainment company IO Group.
The judge’s reasoning was that Veoh is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) safe harbor provisions. Since Veoh takes quick action in light of copyright issues, they are not acting illegally.
“Veoh has a strong DMCA policy, takes active steps to limit incidents of infringement on its website and works diligently to keep unauthorized works off its site,” wrote Judge Lloyd.
Guess who loves this ruling? Google. It’s currently facing its own copyright infrigement suit brought against YouTube by Viacom. Because the Veoh case was heard in California, it doesn’t set precedent for the YouTube case in New York. But Google hopes the Veoh ruling is still influential.
via NYT