A United States District Court has ruled in favour of Google Inc’s YouTube site, finding that YouTube is not liable for infringing Viacom’s copyright.

Judge Louis L. Stanton concluded that YouTube qualified for protection under the safe-harbour provision of the U.S. Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

The safe harbour provision essentially provides protection to online service providers in cases where they are either not aware of the infringing activities of their users, or where appropriate action is taken, upon notification from rights-holders, to disable access to infringing content.

This decision follows a long-running dispute, commencing when Viacom filed a lawsuit against YouTube in 2007. Viacom argued that YouTube were liable for infringing the copyright in thousands of Viacom works uploaded to the YouTube site by users.

Viacom has indicated its intention to appeal the decision, stating:

"We believe that this ruling by the lower court is fundamentally flawed and contrary to the language of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the intent of Congress, and the views of the Supreme Court as expressed in its most recent decisions. We intend to seek to have these issues before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as soon as possible.”

To see the ruling, go to:

www.scribd.com/doc/33470608/Viacom-Google-summary-judgement-opinion