German Court Orders YouTube to Filter Content, Remove Videos
A German court on Friday ordered Google to install filtering software on its YouTube service in Germany to prevent users from uploading copyrighted material.
Hamburg’s state court sided with German copyright organization GEMA, which had sued Google’s YouTube unit two years ago to have 12 music videos for which it holds copyrights be taken down, the Associated Press reported Friday. GEMA, which represents about 64,000 German writers and musicians, argued that its members were losing money when their music was displayed on YouTube.
YouTube, meanwhile, maintained that it bears no legal responsibility for uploaded content, but checks and blocks clips that are flagged as possible copyright violations. YouTube also offers copyright-holders software to help them flag content that infringes on their rights.
The Hamburg court ordered YouTube to take down 7 of the 12 contested clips, but said the popular site does not have to monitor all the content that is uploaded.
“The platform operator only has the obligation to block the video … and take appropriate measures to hinder further rights violations after being notified about the copyright violation,” the court said, according to the AP. “There is no obligation to control all videos already uploaded to the platform.”