In a first-of-its kind decision, a California federal court has dismissed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against online video-sharing site Veoh Networks. IO Group, an adult entertainment company, filed the suit against Veoh, alleging the site displayed its subject matter in violation of copyright laws. But Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd of the U.S. District Court in San Jose ruled against the gay-porn distributor on Wednesday.

IO Group’s suit is not unlike Viacom’s $1.6 billion lawsuit against Google-owned YouTube. In fact, MySpace,

MP3tunes, Hi5, Stage6 and several other sites are facing similar battles by user-generated subject matter.

Could that ruling be a boon for these sites? Or is the ruling merely an isolated incident in a California trial court? Google and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are betting on the former.

Web 2.0 called for Reading

EFF Legal Analyst Fred von Lohman said the ruling should be needed reading for the executives of […]

Orginal post by dhiram