.. thought Pangloss when it was announced on May 4 that the English Premier League were suing You Tube in respect of alleged copyright infringement of Premier League clips - whose business value as sold rights is worth some $2.7 m.
The answer now becomes aparent - by suing in NY, the Football League can bring in other heavy hitters in a class action; indeed a website has been organised for this very purpose. Joining the EPL, it seems , are a number of international music publishers as well as France's top football legue and tennis association.
What still remains to be discovered is, as with the original Viacom/You Tube suit, what the litigants are really after. Proactive filtering, via the long awaited Claim Your Content technology? Plain old damages? A favourable licensing agreement? Or all three?
Watch this space. Meanwhile , have yet another announcement (as of June 6 07) that You Tube are nearly there with Claim Your Content.
1 comment:
Besides the class action element that you mentioned, I'd recommend suit in the US because:
--Statutory damages in copyright, which don't exist in the UK. EPL would be stuck with trying to prove lost sales or revenue in the UK, but merely get to opt for statutory damages in the US in order to ask for a large payout.
--Lower risk in the US of having to pay the other sides legal fees if you lose. The US doesn't have the fee shifting provisions that the UK does.
--An informed judiciary. The SDNY courts handle lots of copyright cases, and so may be more informed on copyright law. Suing in the UK could mean having to explain esoteric areas of copyright to a judge -- maybe even to a judge that doesn't know what a web site is.
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