Google pledges legal aid to YouTube users hit with takedown notices
Google has pledged to lend its financial muscle to YouTube users who it considers to have been unfairly issued with Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices in the US.
The tech titan has identified a ‘handful’ of videos affected which it considers to represent ‘clear fair uses’, prompting it to offer legal support.
Outlining this approach would work in practice Fred von Lohmann, Google’s copyright legal director, wrote on the company blog: “With approval of the video creators, we’ll keep the videos live on YouTube in the US, feature them in the YouTube Copyright Center as strong examples of fair use, and cover the cost of any copyright lawsuits brought against them.
“We’re doing this because we recognize that creators can be intimidated by the DMCA’s counter notification process, and the potential for litigation that comes with it.”
Google’s action follow a number of high profile cases in which copyright holders have been seen to act heavy handedly, notably in the case of Stephanie Lenz who was successfully defended by the privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation after being issued a takedown notice by Universal Music for a 29 second clip of her dancing to Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy.