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Court finds in favour of YouTube in Telecinco copyright case
2014-02-18 16:08:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) A Spanish court has once again ruled in favour of Google's YouTube service in a copyright infringement claim brought by the TV channel Telecinco, owned by Mediaset Spain. Telecinco had appealed against the Madrid Mercantile Court's ruling of 2010, which absolved YouTube of the responsibility for hosting copyright-protected content from Telecinco's programming that users had uploaded on to the video platform. However, Telecinco's appeal has now been dismissed by Madrid's Provincial Appellate Court, which ruled that internet platforms cannot be compelled to supervise or control users' content. The ruling also held that the general notices Telecinco sent YouTube or the presence of the TV channel's logo on the infringing content do not render YouTube liable. The court added that, pursuant to article 15 of the EC's Directive on Electronic Commerce, it cannot impose an obligation on YouTube to actively monitor the content hosted on the platform. The decision basically confirms that YouTube is an intermediary service provider with a special liability regime that releases it from the obligation to monitor or actively filter the videos uploaded by users, an argument that can now be extended to other internet platforms and the extent to which they can be held liable for the content they host.
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Category:Telecommunications