Viacom Appeals YouTube Copyright Ruling

Image via WikipediaViacom International Inc., a Delaware corporation and the fourth-largest media conglomerate on the planet, has filed an appeal in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Louis Stanton's adverse ruling in the copyright infringement case against Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Inc.'s YouTube, Inc. video-sharing Website, according to Bloomberg News.

In Viacom Intl. Inc. v. YouTube Inc. (Case No. 07-02103), Judge Stanton ruled the defendant was shielded by the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act ("DMCA") [H.R. 2281] against the plaintiff's copyright infringement claim. Viacom sought $1 billion in damages for YouTube's purported unauthorized use of clips from Viacom's stable of programs, including South Park and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. The DMCA safe harbor provision protects a service provider if it removes infringing material when alerted by the copyright owner.

Viacom owns MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures.