Youtube And GEMA Continue Legal Battle In Appeals Court
Both YouTube and German music royalty collecting society GEMA have appealed the outcome of a lawsuit filed by GEMA against YouTube, in which a German court ordered YouTube to inspect the titles of uploaded videos to filter out potentially copyright-infringing content.
Google and GEMA seperately said on Monday that they were appealing an April 20 verdict from the Hamburg District Court. Hamburg's court had ruled that YouTube must use filters to prevent users from uploading music videos whose rights are held by GEMA.
GEMA, which represents more than 64,000 German composers, writers and musicians, took YouTube to court over 12 temporarily uploaded music videos for which no royalties were paid.
After the original verdict, both sides returned to the negotiating table in order to come up with an agreement and a possible licensing deal. However GEMA said that a settlement could not be reached before the appeals deadline. GEMA also demanded maximum transparency in ongoing negotiations since YouTube refused to publically disclose information until a deal was reached.
GEMA, which represents more than 64,000 German composers, writers and musicians, took YouTube to court over 12 temporarily uploaded music videos for which no royalties were paid.
After the original verdict, both sides returned to the negotiating table in order to come up with an agreement and a possible licensing deal. However GEMA said that a settlement could not be reached before the appeals deadline. GEMA also demanded maximum transparency in ongoing negotiations since YouTube refused to publically disclose information until a deal was reached.
