Bayern Munich takes on YouTube
p2pnet.net News:- German premier-league soccer club Bayern Munich says it’s ready to sue YouTube for video copyright infringement.
And, “the German Football League (DFL) to the effect that it would henceforth take more vigorous legal action against copyright infringements on the Internet – in the form of unauthorized distribution of private video clips featuring scenes of premier-league (Bundesliga) matches,” says Heise Online.
Bayern Munich was ‘not prepared to countenance’ any violations of its exclusive marketing rights by online platforms, the story has Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the board of management of Bayern Munich, telling WirtschaftsWoche, says Heise Online, going on:
“In addition to marketing the TV rights to the matches played by the club via the DFL, Bayern Munich also exploits these jointly with Deutsche Telekom on its own website FC Bayern TV.
“For a monthly fee of between three and four euros Bayern Munich fans can retrieve match highlights and summaries, interviews and other visual information on the club and its players from there. According to official statements the website has some 30,000 subscribers. Mr. Rummenigge declared that though with regard to this matter the club was coordinating its response with the DFL it nonetheless reserved the right to file a lawsuit of its own.”
Quarterly filing
In more recent news, Google admits it’s already embroiled in a video copyright lawsuit.
The news came to light in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, says the Associated Press.
No details were given.
Google has denied rumours that it set a legal fund worth $500,000,000 aside for just this kind of eventuality.
“Much of YouTube’s success has been driven by easy access to copyrighted video clips posted on the site by the website’s millions of users,” says the story. “YouTube removes videos when copyright owners complain, but pirated clips continue to crop up.
“The recurring problem has raised fears that some copyright owners are delaying legal claims against YouTube until Google completes the acquisition some time during the few weeks. While San Bruno-based YouTube has been subsisting on $11.5 million in venture capital, Google has accumulated $10.4 billion in cash.”
In the SEC filing, Google acknowledged it could face more copyright suits once the YouTube deal closes, adds AP.
Also See:
Heise Online – Bayern Munich takes on YouTube, November 3, 2006
worth $500,000,000 – No $500m YouTube legal reserve, November 9, 2006
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November 9th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
“Someone is making a buck, and some kind of digital MEDIA content is involved,…. 3, 2, 1, YOU OWE US A BRAZILLION DOLLARS!!!”