(06 June 2022) – Online video sharing platforms such as YouTube could be liable for content uploads that infringe copyrights if they fail to act immediately, according to a ruling from Germany’s top court on Thursday (2 June).
The court’s judgment follows guidance from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). While the CJEU last year determined that non-piracy focused online services should not generally be held directly liable for illegal uploads under the 2001 InfoSoc Directive, there were some exceptions for accountability.
An exception would be when platforms fail to remove copyrighted content quickly after the owner made takedown requests.
The German court now sent the cases back to the lower courts to determine if YouTube could be liable based on the guidance from the CJEU. (Euractiv)