Viacom vs. YouTube, Round 2

[Commentary] A federal appeals court has given Viacom a second chance to prove its copyright infringement claims against Google's YouTube, reviving a high-stakes battle between entertainment companies and Internet entrepreneurs over "user-generated content" sites.

The decision by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals was a partial win for both sides, but it left a few important issues unsettled as it tried to strike the right balance between competing interests. The appeals panel seemed to be trying to set narrower safe harbors, in response to copyright holders' complaints that the lower court's ruling upset the balance Congress had struck. In doing so, however, the 2nd Circuit raised new uncertainties about what sites must do to remain on the right side of the law. It's safe to expect more litigation as the courts struggle to apply notions of knowledge, control and responsibility to the increasingly decentralized and automated world of the Internet.

(April 6)