A Spanish court has confirmed that YouTube is not liable for the infringement of copyright in videos uploaded by users. The user generated content site service provider only becomes liable if it fails to take action promptly to remove material after its infringing nature is brought to its attention. The ruling may not come as a surprise as this is simply in line with the European Union’s E-Commerce Directive. However, there had been some doubt as a preliminary ruling had originally awarded Telecino – the Spanish television station – victory in this battle. There have also been other national court decisions around the EU that have not always given the ‘information society service providers’ the protection that the Directive suggests. Therefore, any ruling that helps to re-affirm that protection is therefore comforting for the Internet industry in the EU. YouTube certainly thinks so and says that many Web 2.0 sites would simply grind to a halt if they have to pre-approve and monitor all content before it is made available. YouTube alone gets 24 hours’ worth of new content uploaded onto its site every minute.
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