Rich Fiscus
26 Jul 2007 11:01
A French high court has ruled against the Paris-based video-sharing site Dailymotion, holding it liable for a copyrighted film posted by its users.
The court noted that Dailymotion did not take the film down even after it received a letter of complaint from the producers. The court ordered the site to pay the film's producers 23,000 euros in damages and fork over a 1500 euro fine for each day the movie stays online - though Dailymotion can appeal.
Last month, the President of the High Court of the First Instance of Paris issued a "summary order" that classified MySpace as a publisher, arguing that the so-called social-networker is more than just a hosting service and should be held liable for infringing content posted to its site.
The judgement against Dailymotion was issued by a separate arm of the court, and doesn't indicate that the site is considered a publisher.
Where web-based video sharers are concerned, American courts have yet to rule on the matter, but several lawsuits against YouTube and others - including the big one from Viacom - are pending. The outcome of those suits is likely to shape the future of not just those websites, but any site that allows the public to upload content.
Source: The Register