German Court Turns Down Injunction Against YouTube

A German court on August 27 declined to issue a preliminary injunction against YouTube which would have forced the site to remove 75 music videos in a drawn-out conflict with eight royalty collecting bodies over licensing fees. But the next round may well go to GEMA, ASCAP, BMI and five other royalty collecting bodies trying to get license fees for music videos shown on YouTube in Germany, the Hamburg court said. GEMA, which says it represents about 60,000 German authors and musicians, tried but failed to reach an agreement with YouTube on license fees.