An important case in online video sharing was decided last week. In Universal Media Group v. Veoh Networks (PDF) the federal judge dismissed the case on the grounds that he believed Veoh Network Inc, a popular video sharing website, fell under safe harbor clauses within the DMCA. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is the act that protects copyrights in the online realm. An Electronica Frontier Foundation spokesperson felt that this case would also apply to YouTube in that their terms of services and procedures are similar.

This case allows video sharing sites to fend off liability for copyright infringement from it’s users given they use a rather low standard of procedures in handling reported infringing use. The case seems to acquiesce that works may be ‘performed’ and the sharing sites don’t need to ‘pre-check’ the videos before it displays them. This burden on video sites to remove infringing works strikes a balance between IP rights and video dissemination. While it’s still a considerable financial burden on sharing sites the costs aren’t as bad as facing copyright litigation.

What discussion of online videos and applicable law would be complete without an embedded High-Def video?