For all the talk about Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against Google and YouTube, there are additionally copyright holders who have filed a class-action suit. that class claims YouTube violated intellectual-property rights by posting video clips without permission.

In other words, while Viacom, the entertainment titan that owns Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, and other entertainment properties, is suing Google’s YouTube for the posting of some 160,000 unauthorized video clips, Viacom isn’t the only party claiming damages.

Lou Solomon at Proskauer Rose LLP represents the universal sports leagues and music publishers in a copyright-infringement suit. His clients, he insisted, are going to get structural relief.

“Google says they are never going to give structural relief,” Solomon said. “To me it sounds like the case is going to have to be tried and decided. That’s fine. We welcome that.”

A Safe Harbor?

Google maintains it respects intellectual-property rights and goes “above and beyond” the law’s mandates. whether Google successfully defends

itself against copyright holders’ claims that YouTube does not qualify for safe-harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), it could have a dramatic impact on the way info is consumed online.

As Solomon sees it, YouTube’s control of its Web site has become crystal clear with its advertising machinations. YouTube can pinpoint the right kind of song and the right kind of ad, he said, and that’s the type of control the DMCA says you can’t have to be a safe harbor. Solomon said there are means available to protect copyright holders, and YouTube is not using them. Google was not immediately available for comment.

“Google is going to be directed to employ available means to ensure that copyrighted material stays off the site,” Solomon argued. “This copyrighted material can be fingerprinted in advance. YouTube has to be responsible for not allowing it up on the site to start…

Orginal post by Top Tech News