This link has been bookmarked by 2 people . It was first bookmarked on 08 Aug 2006, by Meaghan Fu.
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08 Aug 06
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The company faces a conundrum when it comes to copyrighted material: its rapidly growing user base loves the wide-ranging video content, some of which may be infringing. YouTube can pull just enough off its servers to keep the lawyers at bay, or it can try to get media companies to contribute material for promotional purposes. The company has had a few successes so far; execs point to a grainy video of soccer star Ronaldhino trying out new sneakers, which was watched millions of times before YouTube learned that sneaker giant Nike had intentionally slipped it onto the site. Music labels such as Warner Records and EMI are also using YouTube to get more exposure for their music videos.
But when it comes to potentially infringing content, things get even trickier when YouTube starts trying to make real money—which it hopes to do later this year by selling its own ads on the site. That could aggravate its already shaky legal status. Its "beg for forgiveness" approach—taking copyrighted content off its site only when faced with a complaint—probably places them comfortably within the safe harbor provisions of 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But as Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Fred von Lohmann points out, companies that benefit financially from infringement don't necessarily enjoy the same legal protections. "There's a real question whether an advertising-based business model creates extra risk" for a company like YouTube, von Lohmann says.
If nothing else, all the copyrighted content on YouTube—what one rival calls the "cloud of infringement"—actually puts the firm at a disadvantage in the rapidly evolving online video marketplace. Yahoo and Google can keep their video portions of their site ad-free and subsidize it with other parts of their business. YouTube doesn't have those deep pockets. And though its impressive traffic statistics should make it an attractive acquisition candidate to a number of new and old media firms, the possibility of lawsuits will probably keep potential suitors away for now.
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03 Mar 06
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