Are platform operators responsible for content that users upload there? Basically not, has now ruled the European Court of Justice – and thus supports YouTube.
The European Court of Justice has strengthened the position of platform operators like YouTube in a ruling. You are therefore basically not responsible if users upload legally protected content, as can be seen from the judgment published on Tuesday.
The providers must therefore take action against the content as soon as they become aware of it. In addition, an operator could run into difficulties “if he acts with full knowledge of the consequences of his behavior in order to give his customers access to a protected work”, it says (cases C-682/18 and C-683/18).
The background to this is two cases that are currently being heard before the Federal Court of Justice. The music producer Frank Peterson took action against YouTube for uploaded concert recordings, and a publisher is involved in a legal dispute with the Uploaded platform. However, there would be no “public reproduction” under EU law by the operators of the Internet services as long as they delete the content “immediately” after they have become aware of it, and as long as they take technical measures to effectively and credibly prove copyright infringements fight.
In a statement following the verdict, YouTube stressed that it had a leadership role in copyright protection and supported the rights of owners through payments. From August 1st, new rules for handling protected content will come into force in Germany. In the future, platform operators should be able to be held liable if internet users upload copyrighted works such as images, texts or videos without permission. Platforms can take precautions via license agreements and at the same time have to block content on the network in certain cases.
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