On september 23rd Google announced it had just won a copyright-infringement case against Telecinco, one the biggest spanish tv networks, stating that it is not Google’s responsability to check copyright violations on the content posted on its YouTube website.
Telecinco claimed that excerpts from some of their shows were posted without permission on YouTube, and that YouTube itself should be liable for the content.
The Madrid federal court ruled that Google is just a service intermediary and it is responsability of the copyright owners to find copyright-infringing materials.
Google called the verdict “a clear victory for the internet and the rules that govern it.”
Telecinco had already won a first sentence, but Google went on to appeal. Now the judge said that “it is physically impossible to control every single video posted” and added that YouTube “is not a content provider and it is not compelled to previously check the material.” After this last ruling the only responsability for Google is “to cooperate with the copyright owners and delete the illegal content once an infringement has been identified.”
Google commented the ruling on its blog: “This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other.”
