Online Video Rights Come to a Head

Viacom's billion dollar lawsuit, filed yesterday against Youtube, followed the 100,000 cease & desist letters distributed back in early February.  Many Berkman Fellows and affiliates have commented and participated in the debate over the "fair use" of content on sites, such as Youtube. 

Berkman Fellow Wendy Seltzer recently tested the waters by posting Superbowl "Low-lights" on Youtube, which garnered a cease & desist notice just days later.  Wendy wasted no time in responding with a counter-notification that the NFL chose not to protest.

Following the flurry of takedowns, Executive Director John Palfrey spoke with Dow Jones MarketWatch about the implications of Youtube's "self-policing policy" and also to the NY Times on Google's options.

Our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and former Student Fellow Derek Slater are also helping those who have been caught in the crossfire.

The Berkman Center Clinical Program is also looking into issues raised by the Viacom notices and the impact on individuals whose content was wrongly taken down.