January 9, 2009 | Online

Veoh not guilty of copyright infringement

Online video-sharing site has bested Universal Music Group (UMG) in a recent copyright infringement suit. UMG claimed Veoh was liable for any copyrighted material that appeared on the Internet TV service.

Veoh defended the site under the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This basically allows sites which rely on user-generated content to post videos without requiring proof of ownership.

“DMCA works well if the site is in the U.S.,” Brandon Shalton from told XBIZ. “The site has up to 48 hours to remove the content once they have received notice. But it gets more tricky, because how does the website know the person telling them to take something down is the copyright owner and not the competitor trying to knock out his competitor’s content?”

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz found that because Veoh did not prescreen content, nor rely on infringement for profit, it was not liable for UMG’s claims of damages.

“We are gratified that the court has denied UMG's attempt to bar the use of safe harbor afforded to us under the copyright laws,” a spokesperson for . “We have always believed that Veoh is operating clearly within the bounds of the law and demonstrates the utmost respect to all copyright owners.”

Don't hold your breath for this fight to end any time soon.