Reports - French Broadcaster Sues YouTube for 100 Million

posted by DrewWilson in culture // 213 days 15 hours 8 minutes ago

Numerous reports are surfacing about new litigation against popular video sharing site YouTube. It appears that French broadcaster TF1 is suing the major video sharing site for 100 million euros.

The reports surfaced on Reuters and moved to other major outlets like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

The initial reports say that TF1 is Frances largest private broadcaster. The 100 million euro suit is the equivalent of about $155 million USD. Variety notes that this is the same broadcaster that is currently suing another major video sharing site 'DailyMotion'.

Said the reports, the lawsuit was filed in California, but will be heard by a French court.

It may lead one to wonder if there are similarities between the lawsuit by TF1 against YouTube and the lawsuit against ThePirateBay from Holleywood. Clearly, there are geographical barriers, legally speaking, to overcome. In the US, there is the digital Millennium Copyright act which has allowed YouTube to operate in the first place. Essentially speaking, if you find your work on YouTube and like it removed, you go through YouTubes process of getting a take-down notice. If anything else, some have criticized for making it too easy to take a video down.

The reports also rightfully note that Viacom is currently attempting to sue YouTube for $1 billion USD.

Hat tip: BNA Internet Law News via Michael Geist

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#1 I'm sure Google's pissed off now that they've just picked up 'Tube and they're getting sued 'till they're blue in the face...

posted by Mord_Sith 213 days 13 hours 11 minutes ago
#2 The lawyers are having a field day on the internet... what a horrible year for us...

posted by runbmp 213 days 12 hours 42 minutes ago
#3 Maybe I should make a video, somehow get it on youtube and also sue for a fictitious number.

posted by mountain_rage 211 days 16 hours 10 minutes ago
#4 As a service provider aren't they exempt from infractions caused by user submitted comments?

posted by FuckRegistration 211 days 11 hours 25 minutes ago
#5 The issue is not with the U.S. laws its with laws from other countries. Basically these industries are at an advantage as somewhere the laws are being broken, so if you want to shut down a website you just have to sue them from there. Seriously corporations are going to kill the internet unless someone comes along and makes it impossible to censor. People need to start pulling their heads out of the sand and either run for office or elect competent individuals, not just the news media's poster child.

posted by mountain_rage 211 days 10 hours 19 minutes ago
#6 By "user submitted comments" I meant Content

posted by FuckRegistration 211 days 9 hours 43 minutes ago
#7 @Mountain Rage:

I was thinking of this as well while I wrote the article, but then I got to thinking - if that was the case, then why hasn't there been a successful lawsuit against ThePirateBay? To me, there's a similar situation since Hollywood has tried suing the website in other countries, but it did them absolutely no good. Meanwhile, YouTube is being sued in another country. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with international law differences between Sweden and the US, so I really don't have any idea on the matter. It's why I referenced TPB in the article in the first place actually - I was hoping someone would be able to explain if there's a critical difference between the two sites legally speaking.

posted by DrewWilson 211 days 4 hours 27 minutes ago
#8 Theres two reason I can think of that would allow Youtube to be sued and not TPB. For Youtube they have a french site which I can only imagine means a server in France or nearby. Where as the PirateBay has its servers only in a few key locations. The other difference is the fact that ThePirateBay only hosts the torrent files while Youtube is hosting the video. Its possible that its simply easier to sue for actual copyright infringement internationally then on the gray area of torrent hosting.

posted by mountain_rage 209 days 16 hours 35 minutes ago
#9 Jesus christ, I think Google should team with TPB, they've been sued till they've shit their pants. Auugh, why the hell cant they leave YouTube alone?

posted by Shackles 206 days 15 hours 26 minutes ago