fbpx
Big Law

The Dispute Between Capitol Records and Vimeo Over Music Licensing Continues

The legal battle between Capitol Records and Vimeo is somehow still ongoing. And last week there was another ruling as part of the music industry’s so far unsuccessful attempt to hold the video-sharing site liable for unlicensed music that appeared in videos uploaded to its platform.

The Capitol label – then still part of EMI – first sued Vimeo all the way back in 2009. The case was a test of the copyright safe harbour, of course, which says that internet companies cannot be held liable for the copyright infringement of their users providing they are unaware of the infringement, and that they have systems in place via which copyright owners can get infringing content removed.

Various side debates have been had as the case has slowly worked its way through the system, including whether the copyright safe harbour in federal US law even applies to sound recordings released prior to 1972 that are protected by state-level copyright law. It does. The labels then had a go at suggesting that Vimeo, by hosting videos with infringing music in them, had violate unfair competition rules under New York state law. They had not.

Read the source article at Complete Music Update

Leave a Review or Comment

Back to top button