Court throws out Viacom case against YouTube

A judge has thrown out Viacom's case against YouTube, saying YouTube is protected by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement as long as it removes videos when asked to do so by the copyright holder.

This reinforces the concept that websites can't be held responsible for copyright infringement of its users are as long as the infringing material is taken down.

Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch wondered whether the legal fees Viacom spent fighting for an outdated distribution system wouldn't have better spent buying ads next to the to the pirated videos.

Excellent point. When your business model no longer works, you need to find a new one.