Comments on: A Brief Interview with EFF's Fred von Lohmann on YouTube, Copyright, Google, and More

By: spsyed

spsyed — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 12:54:00 +0000

Almost six years on, DMCA “fair use” provisions are breached everyday by almost all copyright owners. Who is brave enough to punish them? http://youtube.com/spsyed .

By: Massimo Moruzzi

Massimo Moruzzi — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 17:25:48 +0000

in one sentence, Tom: because they’re not smart enough.

By: TomLee

TomLee — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:31:42 +0000

Universal Music Sues Grouper and Bolt
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20061017:MTFH01637_2006-10-17_16-24-57_N17202038&type=comktNews&rpc=44

In my previous post in this same column I posited that Google should be wary, not of Big Content companies suing Google, becasue Google is legally savvy, rather google should worry about a Big Content company suing some other Internet Video company that can not defend itself as well as Google.

What could come from something like this kind of suit is UMG suing and winning then establishing some sort of precedent that they might not otherwise have been successful at acheiving in suing Google.

However, having established a precedent in a suit such as this gives them a something to leverage against Google.

Tom

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 12:24:51 +0000

Why don't the Big Time content owners who feel they may have a copyright infringement case against some of these various video hosting services sue one of the smaller, less legally sophisticated video services and establish a precedent, THEN sue GoogTube and beat them over the head with it.

That's the legal strategy that GoogTube should be worried about.

Tom

By: Roman

Roman — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 21:34:59 +0000

I thought this was a key quote here: “Google’s executives (like AOL’s and Yahoo’s before them) understand that shaping the legal precedents is a critical part of their business.” Great interview! Thanks, John.

By: PacoBell

PacoBell — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:46:46 +0000

You know, I’m usually gung ho about anything that issues forth from Fred’s mouth, but this statement was downright chilling: “Small timers tend to lack the resources to bring top-drawer legal talent to bear in these fights. As a result, they often lose, creating useful precedents for the Google’s of the world.” Isn’t this the exact same strong-arm tactic the recording industry has been using as of late? To hear von Lohmann condone such behavior by Google so nonchalantly seems kind of out-of-character for him, IMHO. I guess you could argue that those small fry litigants walked right into their own trap and enjoy a brief moment of shadenfreude. Still, it caught me a bit off guard to see that facet of his character exposed. Perhaps all’s fair in love and war, the end justifies the means, etc., etc…

By: JG

JG — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:32:12 +0000

Coward: Exactly my point. When it the legislation is changed, to shut down this loophole, will not it also shut down the same loophole for Google?

By: Joe Hunkins

Joe Hunkins — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:22:50 +0000

I think the very complex copyright issues will easily be resolved in favor of the very simple issues surrounding … revenue sharing. As long as Google can monetize better than the person on their own they’ll not have many lawsuits.

By: PJ

PJ — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:24:27 +0000

I’m sure this was an issue (for BBS) the EFF knew about back when they started in the 90′s.

By: coward

coward — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:42:51 +0000

JG – interesting loophole, but I doubt it would remain legal for long.