Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. | |
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Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit |
Full case name | Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. |
Argued | October 18, 2011 |
Decided | April 5, 2012 |
Holding | |
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act's "safe harbor" provisions shield an online platform from liability for the copyright infringement of users. | |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | José A. Cabranes, Debra Ann Livingston |
Case opinions | |
Decision by | José A. Cabranes |
Keywords | |
Copyright, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Safe Harbor |
Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc., 676 F.3d 19 (2nd Cir., 2012), was a United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decision regarding liability for copyright infringement committed by the users of an online video hosting platform.[1]
The entertainment company Viacom sued YouTube, the video-sharing site owned by Google, alleging that YouTube had engaged in "brazen" and "massive" copyright infringement by allowing users to upload and view hundreds of thousands of videos owned by Viacom without permission.[2] Google was brought into the litigation as YouTube's corporate owner. Google responded that the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act shielded the company from liability for the infringing behavior of its users. After an initial victory for YouTube at the district court level and then a reversal at the circuit court level,[3] the parties settled out of court in 2014.[4]