Standing Up To Takedown Notices

STANDING UP TO TAKEDOWN NOTICES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Catherine Rampell]
Companies have been pursuing copyright violations for decades, but technology -- and the proliferation of online venues like YouTube that allow self-publishing -- has created opportunities both for infringement and for ways to identify alleged violations. With more self-publishing sites comes a boom in "takedown notices," warnings that the material is infringing a copyright and needs to be removed. YouTube, which has been sued by many parties for hosting videos alleged to violate copyright, this week started using a filter to try to identify such content before copyright holders notice it. A group of other content holders, including NBC Universal and Microsoft, yesterday announced standards for how companies should deal with material that people post online. But recently -- in part because of backlash among users and advocacy groups who say copyright holders are abusing the law and wrongfully taking down content -- the challenges to these copyright claims also appear to be increasing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/18/AR2007101802453.html
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