Viacom To Appeal YouTube Lawsuit Loss

As expected, Viacom is planning to appeal its loss in a long-running copyright case against YouTube/Google. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Viacom may file its appeal as soon as tomorrow (Friday).

Viacom sued YouTube in early 2007, claiming copyright infringement because YouTube users had posted thousands of clips from Viacom-owned programs. The case reached its first “conclusion” when Google/YouTube won a summary judgment this past June — the judge ruling that the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects Google from copyright claims over the activity of its users.

A Google spokesperson shared this statement with the Wall Street Journal:

“We regret that Viacom continues to drag out this case. The court here, like every other court to have considered the issue, correctly ruled that the law protects online services like YouTube, which remove content when notified by the copyright holder that it is unauthorized. We will strongly defend the court’s decision on appeal.”

Google announced a series of updates to how it handles copyright issues earlier today, one of which — acting on takedown requests within 24 hours — directly involves YouTube.