2nd Circuit Rules Against UMG, EMI in Lawsuit Over Pre-1972 Vimeo Content
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday against claims by Universal Music Group's Capitol Records, EMI and other record labels that Vimeo ignored infringing content posted to its website, finding that pre-1972 recordings included in videos are covered…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
by the safe harbor provisions in Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Section 512. A U.S. District Court in New York ruled in 2014 that Section 512's safe harbor provisions didn't extend to pre-1972 recordings posted online because they were protected by New York state law. Additionally, “the mere fact that a video contains all or virtually all of a 'recognizable,' copyrighted sound recording and was viewed in some fashion by a service provider’s employee is insufficient to prove knowledge or red flag knowledge of infringement; and Plaintiffs’ evidence was insufficient to support the imputation of knowledge to Vimeo through the theory of willful blindness,” Judge Pierre Leval said for the three-judge 2nd Circuit panel. Judges Peter Hall and Gerard Lynch joined Leval in the unanimous opinion. The purpose of the Section 512 safe harbor provisions “was to make economically feasible the provision of valuable Internet services while expanding protections of the interests of copyright owners through the new notice-and-takedown provision," Leval said. "To construe [Section 512] as leaving service providers subject to liability under state copyright laws for postings by users of infringements of which the service providers were unaware would defeat the very purpose Congress sought to achieve in passing the statute.” Vimeo believes the 2nd Circuit's ruling is “a significant win for not just Vimeo, but all online platforms that empower creators to share content with the world,” a spokesman said in a statement. “The court rightly preserved the balance struck by the DMCA in protecting rights holders and service providers, and we are very pleased with the decision.” UMG didn't comment.