GEMA could have crippled YouTube due to copyright

[ShareShiz]

GEMA could have crippled YouTube due to copyright
By Paul Ferson

GEMA, a German group responsible for royalty collection, has managed to take Google to court over YouTube's copyrighted videos, winning the case and potentially unleashing havoc on the site.

YouTube has had its name tarnished in the past for its lax approach to copyright. Indeed, it was as a direct result of the site's indifference towards respecting copyright rulings that it became part of Google's online empire several years ago. Since then Google has struggled to make YouTube profitable - and things could only get worse thanks to a German court decision made today.

The German court came to the conclusion that Google's service is responsible for content uploaded to it by users. Yes, really. Google Glass seems impressive enough but it seems the giant will have to produce Google Brainwash if they're going to stop people from posting content. This was first covered on ZDNet's London Calling blog, from Zack Whittaker.

If you go on YouTube right now you can find virtually any song you want. In fact, you're more than likely going to find some previously unreleased B-Sides, mixtapes, EPs and the like, if you look hard enough. The flaw is obvious here, isn't it?

Due to people uploading videos to YouTube, the door is now open for anyone with a claim to file a copyright in Germany. They'll win, too, it would seem.

The site could be forced to lose any possibility of making profit for some time more, since they could have to pay royalties. If that happens the floodgates are opened. Not only that but fundamentally, it seems that people simply don't understand how the internet works sometimes.

If YouTube goes down it will be a blow to the internet, for the site is consistently one of the most popular on the entire web. If you ask an average user what they're doing on the net, it'll be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and (occasionally) email, as a general rule.

Continuing with the theme of doom and gloom for YouTube, the site was ordered to install word-based filters alongside its existing filter system, so that copyrighted work would be further protected.

Adding such functionality would greatly slow the upload process, for it would mean another algorithm has to crawl through your video in order to determine whether it's allowed or not. This would prove problematic for the citizen journalists who have taken to YouTube. Citizen journalism has grown more popular on sites such as YouTube in the wake of the Arab Spring and other major events across the world. The Iranian protests a few years ago were driven by video content and information seeping out of the country during its lockdown.

You might be thinking this is targeting a vast number of videos. If only this was the case. GEMA, a German music royalty collecting group, took the site to court over twelve YouTube videos which didn't receive royalties. Twelve videos are enough to hit the entire site, and could potentially remove millions of music videos. The upside is that VEVO videos will be protected, since they are knowingly uploaded to the site. This doesn't soften the blow though, since GEMA represents over 60,000 musicians and authors. Existing copyright filters on YouTube can vary by country, with some countries being region locked. Having discussed it with friends I've discovered that Germany tends to block a great deal of videos, including those from German artists in some cases. Google argues that the existing filters are state-of-the-art to detect and remove content.

Before we continue, perhaps an outlining of who GEMA are is in order. They are the "Gesellschaft f?r musikalische Auff?hrungs- und mechanische Vervielf?ltigungsrechte", or the "Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights". In 2008 alone the group managed to collect 850 million euros from copyright fees. As for video content being blocked in Germany? That happened in 2009, due to GEMA trying to squeeze YouTube for 12 cents from every streamed video they represent. Rather than asking if it was a joke, YouTube described the possibility as "prohibitive", and blocked videos. At the time of writing, navigating to their page brings up an error message. Whether this is related or not cannot be established at the moment.

If things go into 'worst possible scenario' mode, then Google could have to spend a small fortune to please the copyright holders. It would be a real disappointment if Google did not appeal the decision, and it seems almost guaranteed they will, despite not having a comment at the time. It would not be surprising if the collective company was facepalming the news, for estimates suggest up to sixty hours of video being uploaded every minute.

ShareShiz Reviewed by ShareShiz on 20th Apr 2012. GEMA could have crippled YouTube due to copyright GEMA could have crippled YouTube due to copyright By Paul Ferson GEMA, a German group responsible for royalty collection, has managed to take Google to court over YouTube's copyrighted videos, winning the case and potentially unleashing havoc on the site. Rating: 5

[Mr Happy]

I hate copy paste articles from neowin which I've told you about before ShareShiz. They exaggerate the shit out of everything, twist stories and then make it look like the world will implode. I mean they didn't bother with a single quote at all to back up any of the story.

Not to worry as I'm here to the rescue. Here's a quote from the court case

"There is no obligation to control all videos already uploaded to the platform"


Paints a very different picture to "If YouTube goes down it will be a blow to the internet". what a load of crap. "If youtube goes down". I mean how can you take this serious and what's this about Youtube not profitable? Ok it wasn't when they bought it in 2006 but it is now. See my proof below. Proof.... that's something neowin could look into. Really can't stand them.

[Hyperz]

"potentially unleashing havoc on the site"

What a load of bull. If Google complies then it's essentially a loose-loose situation for both them AND copyright holders. If this situation turns out to make operating in Germany too expensive, which it likely will considering what it takes to filter that much incoming data, what are the chances of Google pulling the plug on YT in Germany? Now that would be an interesting situation. If it happens GEMA/court will have butraped themselves and they'll probably have to deal with torches and pitchforks then.

[ShareShiz]

happy stop trying to insult me for copy/pastes. who cares. other people do it too. but i have an enjoyable format can you at least agree on that


OT: thanks for the added info. i know they made it sound over dramatic. youtube wont go down. it just cant. its a vital part to everyones life.

i like the quote you found ...

"There is no obligation to control all videos already uploaded to the platform"

should be similar to the MU case

im just thinking youtube will have to pay a big ass fine.