According to the European Union's highest court, YouTube and other online platformsshould not be held liable for uploads that infringe copyright in certain cases.
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However, YouTube and other platforms could be held liable if they “have knowledge that protected content is being made available illegally on their platform and fail to promptly remove it or block access to it,” the court added.
The EU recently introduced reforms to its copyright rules, aiming to adapt them to the digital age. One part of the law that caused significant controversy at the time was that YouTube, Facebook and other platforms would have to install filters to prevent users from sharing copyrighted material.
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Tuesday's ruling focuses on old copyright rules. The case arose from a lawsuit filed by music producer Frank Peterson against YouTube over the uploading of recordings in 2008 to which he claimed he owned the rights.
The decision marks a victory for YouTube and other content-sharing sites, which have long been in discussions with artists and musicians about how to compensate them for work distributed on the web.
YouTube has cracked down on copyright infringement over the years, a move that has angered some popular creators on the platform. Tensions over copyright action on YouTube escalated in 2020 as the company increasingly automated content restriction.
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A YouTube spokesperson said the company paid over $4 billion to the music industry in the past 12 months, with 30% of that amount coming from monetized videos.
“YouTube is a leader in copyright and advocates for rights holders to be paid fairly,” the platform spokesperson said. “That’s why we’ve invested in state-of-the-art copyright tools that have created a whole new revenue stream for the industry.”
