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| Chilling Effects Clearinghouse > DMCA Notices > Weather Reports > Veoh Survives Universal Music Group Copyright Infringement Suit | 
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|  Veoh Survives Universal Music Group Copyright Infringement SuitRebecca Schoff, Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, September 17, 2009 Abstract: U.S. District Court Judge A. Howard Matz has granted summary judgment in favor of Veoh, an online video hosting site, ruling that Veoh’s procedures to protect against copyright infringement are adequate to qualify Veoh for safe harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Veoh, which hosts user-generated videos in a manner similar to Youtube, was sued by Universal Music Group for alleged copyright infringement in video clips posted on the site. As Ars Technica reports, UMG argued that “Veoh’s transcoding of uploaded videos disqualified it from any sort of protection under the DMCA.” In a categorical rejection of that approach, the Court’s ruling applies the safe harbor provision of the DMCA to prevent Veoh from being held liable for potential infringement in those clips. In the opinion, Judge Matz noted that the measures employed by Veoh to guard against copyright infringement on its site "fulfilled the requirements of section 512(c)(1)(A)." Liz Gannes over at NewTeeVee summarizes the elements of Veoh’s successful policy, including a warning against copyright infringement in the terms of use, disabling access within two days of receipt of a takedown notice, the use of hash filtering to keep allegedly infringing videos from being re-posted, and the termination of accounts for repeat copyright violations. Commentators at both the above links suggest that the reasoning in Judge Matz’s opinion has implications for Viacom’s suit against Youtube. Interestingly, Judge Matz is no stranger to landmark copyright cases, also having been the author of the district court opinion in _Perfect 10 v. Google_. In that case, Judge Matz preliminarily enjoined Google from displaying thumbnail images from unauthorized sites that allegedly infringed on Perfect 10’s copyright to photographs for adult entertainment, but the 9th Circuit reversed that portion of the opinion on appeal. (Both opinions are available online here, along with more information from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
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