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Six Pro-Viacom Amicus Briefs Filed in the 2nd Appeal in Viacom v. YouTube - Yup. Hollywood Still Wants to Control the Internet
Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 05:39 PM EDT

There aren't as many amicus briefs in this second Viacom appeal as there were in the first, less than half, but there are six die-hards supporting Viacom's second appeal who have just filed their amicus briefs in Viacom v. YouTube-Google. They don't understand the Internet. They hate the DMCA's Safe Harbor provision, and they have learned absolutely nothing from history or from the rulings in this case so far. For example, here's the Copyright Alliance cynically predicting the end of the world if the appeals court doesn't overturn the district court judge's ruling for YouTube:
If the court upholds this decision, the burden of ensuring a safe and legal Internet ecosystem will shift almost exclusively onto the shoulders of authors, practically absolving other stakeholders from being in any way responsible for the activities that occur on their websites.
That is, I'm sorry to say, not true. There is no shifting *on* to the shoulders of authors, because the Safe Harbor provision in the DMCA *already* puts responsibility on authors to identify their own works if they think they are being infringed. That's what cease and desist letters are for. And after you send one, the entity you sent it to has responsibilities indeed, a responsibility to act. The only shifting in this picture is folks like the Copyright Alliance trying to shift that burden of identifying infringement onto Google instead. Because Google has lots of money, right? They're smart, right? Why can't they have to come up with something that won't cost authors anything or make them lift a finger to protect their own works?

This group has learned nothing at all about the Internet. All they want is that they want it to stop being the way it is. The Internet is allegedly killing them. The DMCA is giving YouTube a free ride, to hear them tell it, and the lower court judge, they argue, misinterpreted it. Back in the '80s, it was Sony allegedly destroying copyright with their wicked anti-copyright VCRs that let home users video films and tv shows. Now it's the Internet and Google and YouTube allegedly stealing money out of the mouths of starving artists. The arguments are the same.

But do they suffer from amnesia? One amicus brief states clearly that the majority of money Hollywood makes from movies is from sales of things like DVDs after the theater release. The very thing they told the court back in the days of the Sony Betamax case would destroy them turned out to be what kept them in business. They lacked vision back then, and they still do. But can't they compare and notice how wrong they were back then and extrapolate?

It's actually worse. It's greed. They want to make the Internet the new goldmine, as you can see in this telling quote from the amicus brief [PDF] by the American Federation of Musicians et al:

The motion picture and television industry's financial models and well-being, and that of the employees represented by the Guilds and Unions, heavily rely on "downstream" revenue, or revenue from the exploitation of its products subsequent to the theatrical release or first television run.5This was never truer than it is today — 75% of a typical motion picture's revenues derive from exploitation after the initial theatrical release, as do more than 50% of a television program's revenues after the initial television run. Internet exhibition and distribution, in particular, is one area of potential downstream revenue that is continuing to develop, evolve and expand as technology advances.
They want their business model to stay the same and just squeeze the Internet into it until it screams and dies, morphed into a money machine for them, while you and I can do without the real Internet, because it's too free-wheeling for their business model. What do they care about technical progress? This is about money, honey. If every other use of the Internet dies because of their bull-in-a-china-shop ways, what do they care? They never grokked the Internet anyhow.

Jump To Comments

The six amicus briefs:
One of the filings, the Football Association Premier League one, is actually a request for leave to file the amicus brief, and that's why it looks different from the others, with the form attached at the top. Here's what they tell the court about their interest here:
The Football Association Premier League Limited, Bourne Co., Murbo Music Publishing, Inc., CAL IV Entertainment, LLC, X-Ray Dog Music, Inc., and Fédération Française de Tennis respectfully request the Court grant them leave to file a brief of amici curiae supporting appellants and reversal. A copy of the proposed brief is attached as Exhibit 1 to the accompanying declaration of Charles S. Sims (“Sims Decl.”). Appellants have consented to this filing and appellees have declined to take a position on the motion. Sims Decl. ¶¶ 2-3.

The movants are copyright owners – sports leagues and independent music creators – who are plaintiffs in a related case, Football Ass’n Premier League et al. v. YouTube, Inc. et al., No. 07-cv-03582 (LLS) (the “Premier League” case). They were parties to an appeal argued jointly with Viacom’s first appeal, which in April 2012 resulted in vacating and reversing the district court’s original grant of summary judgment to YouTube and Google, and remanding for additional fact-finding. See Viacom Int’l., Inc. v. YouTube, Inc., 676 F. 3d 19, 41-42 (2d Cir. 2012). The movants were not parties to the summary judgment proceedings from which this second appeal arises. Because the Premier League case is still before the same district court on many of the same legal issues, the movants have a profound interest in the outcome of this appeal.

Despite differences in the record, the district court’s interpretation of the DMCA safe harbor disqualifiers, including the “control” and “willful blindness” inquiries, will materially affect amici’s case as well as amici’s ongoing businesses. Indeed, some of the same copyrighted works (and clips) that were identified as infringing at the outset of amici’s case against YouTube are still being infringed by YouTube today, with impunity, as a result of the lower court’s extremely narrow reading of those DMCA disqualifiers, contrary to this Circuit’s rulings in the first appeal. Although YouTube’s history (including its knowledge and intent) set forth in Viacom’s brief is much the same for amici and their works; amici submit this brief to highlight for the Court the full breadth of YouTube’s conduct that may be pertinent in assessing the application of the § 512(c) safe harbor so the Court’s decision may take all such conduct into account. In opining on the scope of these inquiries, we also urge this Circuit to be cognizant of additional aspects of YouTube’s control and willful blindness, elucidated in the proposed brief, that have been shown by amici below but are not the focus of the Viacom case, so that future consideration of those matters is not incidentally foreclosed here.

For the foregoing reasons, movants respectfully request that this Court grant their motion for leave to file the proposed brief of amici curiae, attached as Exhibit 1 to the accompanying Declaration of Charles S. Sims.

This isn't just about YouTube, though. It's about the Internet itself. You can see that by the arguments raised. For example, here's a snip from Section II of the amicus brief by the American Federation of Musicians and the other unions and guilds, to show you what I mean:
II. THE SYSTEMATIC INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHTED WORKS BY ENTITIES SUCH AS YOUTUBE JEOPARDIZES
THE UNIONS' AND GUILDS' MEMBERS' EARNINGS, BENEFITS AND JOBS, AND THE
NATION'S MOTION PICTURE AND SOUND RECORDING INDUSTRIES

On-line theft threatens grave harm to the output of the United States' creative industries, and to the artists and craftspeople who make up the Guilds' and Unions' memberships. The Unions' and Guilds' members' earnings, benefits and jobs are reliant on the preservation and proper enforcement of this country's intellectual property laws. That is why the Guilds and Unions have each made the fight against on-line theft a top priority.3

A. On-line Theft Threatens the Unions' and Guilds' Members' Jobs

On-line theft is not a "victimless" crime — theft costs jobs. The creative process that produces the audiovisual works and sound recordings the Unions' and Guilds' members create is significantly and negatively impacted by on-line theft of those works. One of the tangible consequences of on-line theft is a reduction in employment opportunities for Union and Guild members. The financiers and producers of creative content make decisions regarding what projects to "greenlight" based on settled understandings about various markets and the revenues that can be generated from them. In making these decisions, potential financiers and producers calculate a project's value based on projections of the estimated revenues that will be derived from a series of discrete exploitation windows. For example, the typical life cycle of a motion picture would include windows for the initial theatrical release, followed by a release to the home video market and pay-per-view, then pay television (including video-on-demand), and finally broadcast and basic cable television; the foregoing all occur in both domestic and foreign markets.4Many films are also made available for licensed, legal paid download and streaming on the Internet and mobile devices, concurrent to or overlapping with other distribution windows.

These distribution windows recur, so projects generate revenues for many years, sometimes even for the duration of copyright.

The motion picture and television industry's financial models and well-being, and that of the employees represented by the Guilds and Unions, heavily rely on "downstream" revenue, or revenue from the exploitation of its products subsequent to the theatrical release or first television run.5 This was never truer than it is today — 75% of a typical motion picture's revenues derive from exploitation after the initial theatrical release, as do more than 50% of a television program's revenues after the initial television run. Internet exhibition and distribution, in particular, is one area of potential downstream revenue that is continuing to develop, evolve and expand as technology advances. Given the significant importance of downstream revenues to the financial success of films and television programs, if these markets experience a decrease in revenues, financiers and producers will invest in fewer new works, resulting in fewer jobs in the audiovisual arts. As the prospects for downstream revenues have diminished, motion picture investors have become more likely to fund only "blockbuster" movies with a high likelihood of success in their initial theatrical release. Financing has become more constrained for more diverse films that typically draw a greater percentage of their revenues from post-theatrical distribution, thus impacting the number of jobs available to the Unions' and Guilds' members.6

Any unauthorized use of a copyrighted work upsets the economic foundation of the entertainment industry's commercial structure. This is true when pirated DVDs are sold at swap meets. It is also true when new technologies emerge offering millions of Internet users around the world illicit alternatives that contravene the legal rights of copyright owners. And it is particularly destabilizing when a new technology bears a patina of legitimacy, while underneath that shiny surface it threatens to supplant existing, lawfully licensed windows of exploitation. YouTube's longstanding policy of displaying and distributing works in contravention of copyright constitutes precisely such a destabilizing and illegitimate use of new technology.

________
3 See, e.g., Interview of IATSE President Matthew Loeb, DGA QUARTERLY (Winter 2012), available at: http ://www.dga.org/Craft/ DGAQ/All-Articles/1201-Winter-2012/10-Questions-Matt-Loeb.aspx (explaining the effects of internet theft on union members and efforts of guilds and unions to combat internet theft); Joint statement of AFM, AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, IBT, and SAG commending passage of S. 978, Commercial Felony Streaming Act, June 16, 2011, available at: http://www.afm.orginews/joint-statement-commending -passage-of-s-978; Directors Guild of America, Guilds, Unions Meet with White House Intellectual Property Official, November 8, 2011, available at: http://www.dga.org/News/Guild-News/2011/December/ DGA-meets-with-Espinel.aspx (stating AFM, AFTRA, SAG, IATSE, DGA, and others met with U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel to discuss, among other topics, the fight against internet theft); Jonathan Handel, Unions Speak Out Against Piracy, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, April 4, 2011, (reporting on a press conference where Congressional leaders were joined by representatives of the DGA, AFTRA, IATSE and SAG to discuss internet theft); Joint letter of AFM, AFTRA, DGA, IATSE and SAG to United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator regarding the development of a federal effort against intellectual property infringement, March 24, 2010, available at: http://www.afm.org/uploads/file/Entertainment%20Guilds %20and%20Unions%20 Submission%20on%20IPEC%20- %20FINAL%20-%203-24-10-ability to support their families and their contributions to American culture are at stake.

4 A typical television series will run first on a television or cable network and might re-run multiple times within that same season. A recent practice is for episodes of the series to be available for viewing on the Internet and mobile devices — either via ad-supported streaming, a subscription-based service, or through paid downloads — as early as the next day following its first run. Frequently, successful television series are released to DVD after one season ends and before the next one begins. A successful series will eventually be syndicated to other broadcast or basic cable channels.

5 Downstream revenue sources include home video (e.g., DVD) sales, repeat airings on broadcast and basic cable television and premium pay television, new media (e.g., paid Internet downloads) and others, both domestic and foreign. 6 See, e.g., Michael Hiltzik, Casual Purchase of a Counterfeit DVD Shines Light on Piracy, L.A. TIMES, Jan. 4, 2010, available at: h ttp://www.latime s. com/busine s s/la-fi-hiltzik4-20101an04„0,3438848. column (noting that the cost of piracy of motion pictures is greatest for independent film producers, who rely more heavily on foreign distribution than the large U.S. studios, and who have been getting only "a fraction of what they used to" from foreign distributors because piracy has dramatically diminished their own revenue expectations).

This trend has the potential not only to erode jobs and earnings in our industry, but also to deprive consumers of high-quality content that reflects a diversity of viewpoints. One need only look to the music industry to understand how a successful content-based business model can be substantially eroded by a failure to effectively regulate or combat on-line theft. See, e.g., Bono, Op-Ed., Ten for the Next Ten, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 3, 2010, at WK10.

Here's the Copyright Alliance, predicting doom and gloom if the appeals court doesn't overturn the lower court:
In short, the Copyright Alliance speaks with the voice of all creators – including those who have softer voices than the titans of media – and wishes to provide the Court with their perspective because, as the Court is aware, this case is not just about Viacom and YouTube. This case’s reach is much broader, touching Copyright Alliance members ranging from independent filmmakers who borrow against their retirement income to capture unique voices, to tens of thousands of entrepreneurial professional photographers and videographers, to myriad “below the line” craftspeople who are behind every television show and motion picture we enjoy daily.

This case has legal ramifications symptomatic of a much greater problem than the specific dispute at hand. If the court upholds this decision, the burden of ensuring a safe and legal Internet ecosystem will shift almost exclusively onto the shoulders of authors, practically absolving other stakeholders from being in any way responsible for the activities that occur on their websites. Such a decision would be contrary to the text, legislative history, and spirit of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). The legal standards under the DMCA, as interpreted by the courts, should not disincentivize honest Internet businesses from discouraging copyright infringement or, conversely, incentivize ill-intending website operators to launch platforms that welcome copyright infringement.

To bless the lower court’s erroneous application of the DMCA safe harbor would lead to ruinous results for authors, including the inevitable cannibalization of legitimate outlets for new works. Not only would such a result do violence to the DMCA, but it would fly in the face of the Copyright Clause of the United States Constitution, the core purpose of which is to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.”

The Copyright Alliance and its members embrace all of the new technologies that enable their works to be seen and heard by the public in novel ways, including those birthed on the Internet that “disrupt” traditional business models. The Copyright Alliance submits this brief to help the Court appreciate how Judge Stanton’s decision is inconsistent with the DMCA and to help the Court understand the negative impacts of affirmance to all of those who rely on the DMCA to build vibrant and thriving legal outlets for creative endeavors.

Do They Suffer From Amnesia? Let's Go Back to 1984:

The same folks and their brethren told us the world would come to an end for them if Sony was allowed to sell VCRs to home users. Remember Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios - 464 U.S. 417 (1984)? Hollywood argued back then that people should sit in a movie house or nothing. Or watch something on TV one time when it was broadcast. Or the world would come to the end. The US Supreme Court, however, ruled that time shifting was fair use and VCR vendors were not liable for what home users did with their VCRs.

Now the world will come to an end, they argue, if they can't continue to make most of their money from what Sony made possible -- the home video market, pay-per-view, pay television, broadcast and basic cable, both in the US and around the world -- plus arguing that the Internet should be added to DVDs as an additional, modern way to make money from after-theater releases. But to make that happen to their liking, they have to shift responsibility for infringement onto vendors, which is the opposite of what happened in Sony and the opposite of what the DMCA's Safe Harbor provision says.

Did you like the part about how they used to be able to make money from a product for the life of copyright? Do you know how long that actually is??? Longer than your lifetime. Longer than their lifetimes. So this isn't about their personal income. It's about corporate moneymaking.

They didn't *forget* about Sony. It's actually worse. They don't *like* the decision in Sony, and they continue to try to chip away at it. This time, it's about Safe Harbor, trying to change that so they don't have to send cease and desist letters. Here's why they don't like Sony, from the introduction to the ruling:

Petitioner Sony Corp. manufactures home videotape recorders (VTR's), and markets them through retail establishments, some of which are also petitioners.

Respondents own the copyrights on some of the television programs that are broadcast on the public airwaves. Respondents brought an action against petitioners in Federal District Court, alleging that VTR consumers had been recording some of respondents' copyrighted works that had been exhibited on commercially sponsored television, and thereby infringed respondents' copyrights, and further that petitioners were liable for such copyright infringement because of their marketing of the VTR's. Respondents sought money damages, an equitable accounting of profits, and an injunction against the manufacture and marketing of the VTR's.

The District Court denied respondents all relief, holding that noncommercial home use recording of material broadcast over the public airwaves was a fair use of copyrighted works, and did not constitute copyright infringement, and that petitioners could not be held liable as contributory infringers even if the home use of a VTR was considered an infringing use. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding petitioners liable for contributory infringement and ordering the District Court to fashion appropriate relief.

Held: The sale of the VTR's to the general public does not constitute contributory infringement of respondents' copyrights.

Notice anything helpful to YouTube and you and me? Why, yes. So do I. And so do they. They want the court to flip the switch and make Sony history, by stretching the later Grokster ruling to cover what the US Discrict Court judge so far has ruled it doesn't. That's why Viacom is asking for a new judge.

Here's how EFF describes the effect of the Sony ruling. The case is often called the Betamax case:

The Supreme Court's ruling in Sony v. Universal Studios (aka the Betamax case) is a landmark copyright precedent that has sheltered a wide array of technology innovators from lawsuits at the hands of the entertainment industries. In 1984, the Court held that a company -- in this instance, a VCR manufacturer -- was not liable for creating a technology that some customers may use for copyright infringing purposes, so long as the technology is capable of substantial non-infringing uses. In other words, where a technology has many uses, the public cannot be denied the lawful uses just because some (or many or most) may use the product to infringe copyrights.

The Betamax case and its descendants go to a crucial question: will innovators be forced by copyright law to ask permission from entertainment moguls before building new technologies? If Sony had asked permission from Hollywood, the Betamax might never have made it to market (or might have had very different features). It's thanks to the Betamax ruling that the makers of VCRs and every other technology capable of infringing and non-infringing uses (e.g., personal computers, CD burners, the TiVo DVR, Apple's iPod, and Web browsers) can continue to sell their wares without fear of lawsuits from copyright owners.

The entertainment industry's lawsuit against peer-to-peer software companies in MGM v. Grokster was a frontal assault on the Betamax ruling. By suing the makers of Morpheus, Grokster, and KaZaA software products, the entertainment industry aimed to set a precedent to use against other technology companies (P2P and otherwise).

In its June 27, 2005 ruling, the Supreme Court refused to overturn the Betamax precedent, but it also refused to clarify it. Instead, the Court punted on the hard questions by crafting a new doctrine of copyright infringement liability called "inducement."...

In its current lawsuits, the entertainment industry continues to try to chip away at Betamax. It is remarkable to compare the arguments the entertainment industry has made against P2P to the ones it made against the VTR (what they called VCRs back then) in 1982. A comparison makes it clear that the entertainment industry has been trying to roll back the protections established more than twenty years earlier in the Betamax case.

It's remarkable indeed to see the things that Hollywood said back in the '80s. On that same EFF page, you'll find amicus briefs filed back then in support of Universal Music and against Sony, along with a short snip from each to show you that they fought Sony in the '80's, lost, and they are still fighting even now that they make most of their money from the Sony decision going against them. That old gang of Viacom can't learn from history, nor even figure out where their best interest lies, I conclude:
  • Association of American Publishers [PDF, 48K] - "AAP's and AAUP's interest is direct and compelling. Fair use has traditionally served as an "escape value" to provide relief in an individual case from the finding of infringement that otherwise would be required by a literal reading of the copyright statute. The doctrine is not and never was intended to excuse widespread copying of the same copyrighted work by a multitude of users at the same time nor is it nor was it ever intended to threaten existing or emerging markets from which substantial investments must be recouped.

    "Unauthorized recording of all or a substantial part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, however, is not a fair use under section 107, whether the recording is made at home or elsewhere. Fair use can never excuse copying which, as here, threatens to reduce existing, emerging or potential markets for the work copied. Nor is the fair use doctrine applicable to the copying of all or substantial parts of copyrighted audiovisual works, a practice which is widespread now and which can be expected to become more prevalent as the market for home recording equipment increases.

    "Home recording cannot be excused or exempted, as petitioners claim, as simply a mechanical step enhancing the viewer's capacity to receive the broadcaster's signal. Home recording is home copying and is to be judged by the same standards by which other copying is judged.

    "If unauthorized home recording of copyrighted material is deemed to be in the public interest, a statutory revision would be needed to exclude home recording from the bundle of rights granted to the copyright owner. Such a radical change, however, should not be permitted by a distortion of the fair use doctrine."

  • Authors League of America [PDF, 32K] - "he modern technology of the Betamax and other home video-recording machines makes it possible for 10, or 1,000 or 1,000,000 individuals to by-pass the commercial pirate and reproduce video-cassettes of SWEENEY TODD or a Disney movie from a single television or cable broadcast. For the author, the copyright and economic consequences are the same as those of commercial piracy: 10, or 1,000 or 1,000,000 copies have been reproduced and placed in the possession of individuals - - who make up the author's audience -- without his/her permission and without any compensation. The home-counterfeiting of copyrighted plays, novels or films is no more justifiable because it is done at home and for the home-owner's sole benefit than would be the home-counterfeiting of $10 bills, performed on a sophisticated copying-machine equivalent of the Betamax for the benefit and enjoyment of the home-owner."

  • CBS [PDF, 72K] - "Every broadcaster is directly threatened by petitioners' argument that the broadcasting of copyrighted materials makes them fair game for home copying. Motion picture and television producers invest substantial amounts to create copyrighted works. The revenues they receive from the initial broadcast of these works reflect only a portion of their value. The balance is realized through other authorized distributions, including theatrical and cable distribution, later broadcasts, and sales of prerecorded discs and tapes. If the broadcast audience is permitted to copy these works for later discretionary use, a substantial portion of the value that properly belongs to the copyright owner will be lost. To avoid such losses, copyright owners will either shift from broadcast to more secure media of distribution or charge broadcasters more for the use of their works in order to obtain compensation for unlicensed off-the-air copying. But since ratings services do not count and advertisers do not pay for home videotape viewing, the higher cost of obtaining works for broadcast will not be matched by additional advertising revenues.

    "Although audiotaping is not at issue in this case, the Court's decision may be vitally important to the record industry, in which CBS is a major participant. Uncompensated home audiotaping is having devastating effects on record companies, composers and performing artists, who receive royalties on each record sold. Home taping displaces hundreds of millions of dollars worth of record sales annually. It has led to fewer new releases, smaller royalty payments, fewer opportunities for new artists, and less incentive for creative activity. The Court should not in this video case decide any question relating to audiotaping, which involves different legal, technological, and economic issues, but it should, we respectfully submit, take due note of the severe economic harm done to copyright owners by massive unlicensed home copying by the very people who are the intended audience for a copyrighted work.

    "Above all, CBS wants the copyright system to continue to provide economic incentives for the creative endeavors that are the lifeblood of its business. The copyright system provides those incentives by permitting creative people to charge for the use of their works. The extraordinary theory being pressed by petitioners -- that a court should authorize free copying in order to give the intended audience broader access to copyrighted works -- is fundamentally inconsistent with the property right that is recognized and protected by the copyright system."

  • Committee on Copyright and Literary Property of the Assoc. of the Bar of NY [PDF, 64K] - "This case presents a face-off between traditional property rights and new technology. By using a video cassette recorder ("VCR"), individuals can reproduce easily and at modest expense a motion picture or television program transmitted into the individual's home on VHF, UHF or cable, thereby obtaining possession of a copy of a copyrighted work without the consent of -- and without payment to -- the copyright proprietor. Because of this technology and its increasing use, this Court's review will have implications beyond the interests of the two producers and one manufacturer who are parties to the case. Within the entertainment and electronics industries, competing economic interests are at stake. Those who derive income from the sale of VCRs or tapes urge the Court to find no copyright infringement in off-the-air reproduction. Those who produce motion pictures or television programs and who see videotaping as a threat to the value of their productions urge the Court to find that off-the-air copying is an infringement.

    "The Committee, which will not be directly affected by the Court's decision, files this brief because the implications of the case go beyond home video recording. New technology -- in the form of computers and photocopiers designed for both office and home -- now affords, or will soon afford, individuals the ability to replicate easily a host of copyrighted works. If the Court reaches the issue of infringement n1 and if it holds that home video recording is not an infringement, the most basic right of a copyright proprietor -- control over reproduction of his work -- will be greatly diminished, both in the face of new technology and through more traditional infringements, as well. While recognizing the difficult economic and social issues inherent in this case, the Committee respectfully urges this Court to preserve the protections afforded copyright proprietors under the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-810 ("1976 Act" or "Act"), by refusing to create a new and open- ended authorization of verbatim copying of copyrighted works."

  • Creators and Distributors of Programs - "Sony threatens to erode the value of amici 's property rights in those programs by marketing a videotape machine (or "VTR") called Betamax, which makes millions of unauthorized copies of amici 's intellectual property. Amici's copyrights are the sine qua non of the multi-billion dollar VTR industry.

    "At the time of trial, there were only about 130,000 Betamax VTRs. Today, there are about 4,500,000 VTRs. By the end of the decade, it is estimated that there will be 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 VTRs. Wholesale copying of Amici 's programs by millions of VTRs will pre-empt critical ancillary markets and seriously jeopardize amici 's legitimate property rights."

  • International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees [PDF, 28K] - " IATSE is an international labor union lawfully representing, pursuant to collective bargaining agreements, employees of Universal City Studios, Inc., and other motion picture and television producers which produce theatrical motion pictures and/or motion pictures made for television. The interests of IATSE could be catastrophically affected if Appellants prevail.

    "Employer contributions to IATSE Pension and Health and Welfare Funds are based on monies collected by licensing, to television stations across the country, post-1960's theatrical motion pictures. The Trust Funds receiving these contributions are threatened by drastic reductions if Appellants prevail. Respondents and other motion picture producers could not continue licensing because of the adverse effect home copying would have on potential markets. The theatrical movie rerun market would be seriously diluted since potential licensees and advertisers of those stations would be reluctant to invest in a product which would not be in demand as a result of the proliferation of home copying.

    "This reduced market for reruns would also cause dramatic unemployment among the members of IATSE since the production of many theatrical motion pictures would have to be curtailed. Many motion pictures are not profitable until they are licensed for television. The production of movies made for television would be similarly reduced because their rerun market would be damaged by viewer ability to copy and reproduce first-run movies appearing on television. The inevitable result of the foregoing would be industry-wide cost cutting, and reduction in production resulting in layoffs of IATSE members as well as other workers throughout the industry."

  • MPAA [PDF, 68K] - "There is no exemption from infringement for home recording of copyrighted works under the 1976 Copyright Act. There is no statutory or implied exemption, and home recording is not fair use."

  • National Music Publishers Association [PDF, 48K] - "There is no exemption from infringement for home recording of copyrighted works under the 1976 Copyright Act. There is no statutory or implied exemption, and home recording is not fair use.

    "Legislative history does not show that home recording is fair use or is otherwise exempt from infringement. The history of the 1976 Act does show that home recording is not so privileged.

    "The 1971 Sound Recording Amendment did not exempt the home recording of motion pictures or musical works, and did not even clearly exempt the home duplication of sound recordings. In any event, that amendment is not pertinent and fragments of its history relied on by petitioners are not part of the 1976 Act. Fair use is essentially supplementary in nature. It does not permit the home recording of entire copyrighted works for the purpose of entertainment."

  • RIAA [PDF, 56K] - "Legal analysis of home audio recording reinforces the Ninth Circuit's conclusion that off-the-air copying of audiovisual works in the home infringes the copyright owner's exclusive right of reproduction."

  • Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts [PDF, 36K] - "Uncompensated home video recording of copyrighted works would have a harmful economic impact on the entire creative community....The harm threatened from home video recording is substantial. It is of deep concern to VLA's clients -- the many artists and arts groups unable to afford legal services -- and is not limited to more affluent elements of the arts community. The harm weighs strongly against application of 'fair use'.

    "Many of VLA's clients are nonprofit arts organizations (e.g., dance and theater companies, orchestras and musical groups) in constant need of new sources of income for their very existence. n3 One source of income is through licensing of works for performance on commercial, educational or cable television. Typically, a license permits the licensee to broadcast the work a limited number of times over a period of years. If free home video recording of the work were allowed, a licensee would pay less because his audience for the repeat broadcasts would decrease. Thus, the economic benefit to the arts organization would be curtailed, with no payment to compensate for the loss."

  • Writers Guild of America [PDF, 56K] - "The Copyright Act permits discrete exceptions to the exclusive rights of the copyright owner. None of those exceptions includes the right of third parties to indiscriminately copy entire copyrighted works by videotaping of the complete works from telecasts made under restricted licenses.

    "Free speech comes, both philosophically and in time, before public access. Free speech is justified and protected by the widest dissemination of speech, but the public's right to know and the public's right to access are products of the right of free speech, not vice-versa. It undermines the First Amendment and the Copyright Act and places the cart before the horse to argue that the public's right of access compels a surrender or narrowing of the author's copyright....

    "The talent Guilds believe that the protection of their members' residual payments, and the continued existence of the entertainment industry, are inextricably tied to the protection of the ownership and copyright of motion pictures and television films. The broadest protection of copyright in motion pictures and television films is essential to continued creativity and to the dissemination of entertainment in our society. Protection should be afforded to films which are broadcast over television; they should not be subject to wholesale, free-ride reproduction by the petitioners' devices. The point of view of the talent Guilds is the point of view of the creative community. It is for the preservation of copyright protection."

Uncanny, isn't it, this trip back memory lane? See what I mean about amnesia? Did any of the feared results come true? Actually, the opposite. Most of their money now comes from what they resisted with all their might. They learned nothing from losing the argument in 1984 or even from watching reality play out, rebutting all their arguments and their fears.

The part that is so hard for my brain to understand is why they don't see that their money today is coming mostly from what they thought would be a disaster for them financially. Instead, it proved to be a perpetual goldmine. Why can't they extrapolate from that experience and realize that the Internet is no different, that they don't have to control it as heavily as they think they do to make buckets of money? YouTube is a potential goldmine for them, just as it is, without changing a thing about the DMCA, if they only had a little modernity or at least a bit of vision. Instead, they fear it, because it's not the way they are used to making money.

You can't undo tech progress. Not without deciding as a nation to ban technological progress. And as a matter of fact, that is exactly what they are asking the court to order.

Update: Viacom folded, it seems, and the parties announced on March 18, 2014 that they had settled the matter, with neither party paying the other anything. Since Viacom was originally asking for a billion in damages, the settlement clearly was Viacom waving a white flag. Or, more positively, it's Viacom deciding to wake up and smell the coffee. As the CNN article points out:

Since the lawsuit was filed, YouTube has become the world's largest video-sharing web site and also a partner to major media companies, including Viacom.

The futures of companies like Viacom are increasingly intertwined with technology giants like Google, which the two parties acknowledged.

"This settlement reflects the growing collaborative dialogue between our two companies on important opportunities, and we look forward to working more closely together," the statement said.

Viacom and Google have separately both shown interest in delivering a bundle of cable channels via the Internet, a concept known as "over the top TV." The two also have shared interests in various advertising and technology innovations.

Money is what litigation is about, and so money wins. Unfortunately, Viacom's executives were about a zillion years old, not exactly the Internet set, and it took them a long time to see the opportunity. But better late than never.

  


Six Pro-Viacom Amicus Briefs Filed in the 2nd Appeal in Viacom v. YouTube - Yup. Hollywood Still Wants to Control the Internet | 333 comments | Create New Account
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Corrections here
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 05:47 PM EDT


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You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Comes here
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 05:48 PM EDT


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You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

[ Reply to This | # ]

OT here
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 05:48 PM EDT
Please make any links clickable.


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You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

[ Reply to This | # ]

NewsPicks commentary here
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 05:50 PM EDT
Please include a link to the article you are
referencing as they will roll off of the main page.


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You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

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Betamax! Indeed I Remember.
Authored by: lnuss on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 06:24 PM EDT
I was very relieved back then that Sony won -- it was a worrying thing indeed,
until they did. And I'm hoping that things go essentially the same way this
time, for the same reasons.

As you indicate, if those industries had any imagination (even their movies are
getting typecast) they'd recognize opportunities instead of obstacles. This is
an excellent example of the old saw about when life hands you a lemon, you make
lemonade.

Those industries lost my respect long ago, when they started relying on sex and
violence to sell their products instead of truly original and delightful
stories. They went even further downhill to my mind when I discovered (according
to reports, rumor, etc., and I believe it) that they try to bilk the very
artists who provide them their cash cows, and that they evade taxes and
royalties by "creative accounting."

---
Larry N.

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Copyright holders, not authors
Authored by: JK Finn on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 06:54 PM EDT
There is no shifting *on* to the shoulders of authors, because the Safe Harbor provision in the DMCA *already* puts responsibility on authors to identify their own works if they think they are being infringed.

I believe it's the copyright holders who are supposed to identify the works they hold the rights to, not the authors. It's also the selfsame copyright holders who are "stealing money out of the mouths of starving artists", not Google or Youtube.

Sometimes it seems that it's far more rewarding to get creative with accounting standards than it is with content.

Apart from that, the lack of vision is right on. We are about a generation into the information age and they are in control of content that people actually want to consume, and they feel threatened when that content is delivered on someone else's dime? No, they haven't learned a thing. However, this time success might not be force-fed to them. If we get lucky, they might actually manage to obsolete themselves.

--
JK Finn

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MPAA Pro Universal Amicus Brief from 1982
Authored by: dio gratia on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 07:06 PM EDT

Hhhmmm.

"There is no exemption from infringement for home recording of copyrighted works under the 1976 Copyright Act. There is no statutory or implied exemption, and home recording is not fair use."
January 1984 Supreme Court Rules Home Use of VCRs Okay.
5-4 Decision in Copyright Case:

The Supreme Court Jan. 17 ruled, 5-4, that the noncommercial home use of video cassette recorders did not violate the federal Copyright Act of 1976. The decision in Sony v. Universal City Studios had been one of the most eagerly awaited of the current high court term.
...
The ruling was a victory for Sony Corp., manufacturer of the popular Betamax VCR, and a defeat for Walt Disney Productions and Universal City Studios (a unit of MCA Inc.) The studios had argued that the home taping of copyrighted films and television shows violated their property rights and deprived them of revenues.

The Supreme Court, reversing a 1981 ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, held that home taping did not infringe on the copyright law unless the copied material was used for a "commercial or profit-making purpose."

Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the five-member majority, concluded that noncommercial home taping fell within the so-called "fair use" exception to copyright laws. The doctrine permitted the limited use of copyrighted materials.

Stevens focused part of his opinion on the legality of "time-shifting," or the recording of programs for later viewing. "Time-shifting," he said, "merely enables a viewer to see such a work which he had been invited to witness in its entirety free of charge."

Apparently no movie has actually show a profit since 1922, the relatively small part of our economy occupied by the motion picture industry doesn't appear to require profitability to contribute to the sciences and arts. Of course if they were profitable some of that could be spent on pursuing infringers ( 17 USC § 501 (b)) instead of asking for the cost to be born by service providers.

I can't imagine any change in the law resulting in economic proof of contribution to the sciences and arts, rather any deferred spending being swallowed up in the maw of 'Hollywood Accounting'.

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Most of the creativity is in law suites
Authored by: kawabago on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 07:55 PM EDT
Most of the creativity is in the law suites they keep filing
instead of in their products. Maybe that's what's wrong. In
one paragraph they are losing tons of money and in the next
they are making tons and it must be protected. So are they
losing or making money? Even they don't seem to know.

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What if the court gave Viacom what it wants?
Authored by: gdeinsta on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 08:51 PM EDT

What if all movie theaters had to police copyright in the movies they show, including trailers?

What if all TV stations had to police copyright in everything they broadcast, including 15-second ads?

What if all book stores had to police copyright in every book or magazine they sold?

What if every record store had to police copyright in every recording they sold?

Why is the Internet different?

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Six Pro-Viacom Amicus Briefs Filed in the 2nd Appeal in Viacom v. YouTube - Yup. Hollywood Still Wants to Control the Internet
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 09:27 PM EDT
The big question which doesn't seem to have been answered - how exactly are
Google *supposed to know* what is copyright material and what isn't, unless the
copyright holder informs them ?

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Six Pro-Viacom Amicus Briefs Filed in the 2nd Appeal in Viacom v. YouTube - Yup. Hollywood Still Wants to Control the Internet
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 10:27 PM EDT
On line theft from the artists? Right! Nothing about contracts with a
percentage of net profits for royalties, where multi-million dollar
blockbusters are forever in the red. Forgive me for my lack of
sympathy. This has been going on since before the talkies! The artists
are forever getting ......

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Six Pro-Viacom Amicus Briefs Filed in the 2nd Appeal in Viacom v. YouTube - Yup. Hollywood Still Wants to Control the Internet
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, August 03 2013 @ 10:37 PM EDT
As the internet is going to steal all their money let's hope they win; it'll
speed up the demise of the **AA dinosaurs.

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Culture clash
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, August 04 2013 @ 05:30 AM EDT
They are from a world where to create
something you need to spend tens of millions
of dollars and months or years with multiple
professionals honing and "perfecting" the
product, which is then distributed slowly and
deliberately to specific territories and
formats over further years, to rigorous
timetable for maximum profit extraction.

They don't understand the idea that someone
can create something in 10 seconds and
publish it worldwide for free within a minute
- it's not part of their universe and is
therefore a threat.

If they understood the rapid process of
publishing on the internet, they would
realise how impractical it is to vet any
content for infringement against an almost
infinite catalog of potential prior art
before publication.

Obviously they don't care if they ruin the
best aspects of the internet by arbitrary
legal fiat because it's the simplest way for
them to avoid thinking.

Equally clearly this is not in their interest
long term.

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Six Pro-Viacom Amicus Briefs Filed in the 2nd Appeal in Viacom v. YouTube - Yup. Hollywood Still Wants to Control the Internet
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, August 04 2013 @ 10:59 AM EDT
In case anybody needs reminding:

Lawrence Lessig: Laws that choke creativity

Still very relevant, 6 years on.

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Six Pro-Viacom Amicus Briefs Filed in the 2nd Appeal in Viacom v. YouTube - Yup. Hollywood Still Wants to Control the Internet
Authored by: Witness on Monday, August 05 2013 @ 07:13 AM EDT
Hollywood's lack of originality Once again. The internet is
a place of innovation and more originality than and we see
here they can't stand it.

---
Witness

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Obama should veto Microsoft ban on Motorola devices
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, August 05 2013 @ 12:33 PM EDT
Now that the Obama administration has lifted the ban on Apple devices, they
should also lift the ITC's decision for Microsoft to ban select Motorola
devices. Now that would be fair!

Honestly though, this is totally unfair for Samsung (and Motorola).

[ Reply to This | # ]

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