Why Policing Your Intellectual Property on the Internet is More Important Than Ever

Anna K. Heinl and Kevin J. Heinl at Brooks Kushman discuss how monitoring your copyrighted works on the Internet is an essential step to protecting your intellectual property.

Why Policing Your Intellectual Property on the Internet is More Important Than Ever

Copyright and trademark infringement is rampant on the Internet. This is, in part, due to judicial recognition of expansive protections for Internet service providers (ISPs), like Google.

In the recent decision Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc.1, a New York District Court ruled that Google`s YouTube is protected from copyright infringement liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (D.M.C.A.).  The D.M.C.A. protects ISPs from infringement liability as long as the ISPs promptly remove illegal content upon notification. The court held that YouTube was not liable for copyright infringement because its existing take-down procedures were sufficient. YouTube took down more than 100,000 videos within 24 hours after Viacom specifically notified them of the infringing videos.

Read the entire Corp! article written by Anna Heinl and Kevin J. Heinl.

Original Publication: 

Corp!

December 2, 2010