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YouTube Copyright Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Multiple Grammy awards-winning artist Maria Schneider files a class action lawsuit against YouTube on behalf of “original creators” upon whose copyrights have been infringed
- Why: According to the class action lawsuit, Schneider is filing her claim due to alleged copyright infringement on the video platform, noting that Youtube fails to protect “original creators”
- Where: The Youtube class action lawsuit was filed in California court
An American musician with multiple Grammy awards to her name is ramping up her legal fight against YouTube, claiming copyright infringement is rampant on the platform, with few enforcement measures.
Composer and jazz orchestra leader Maria Schneider filed a class action lawsuit in a California court against YouTube and Google last July, alleging the video-sharing platform fails to protect “ordinary creators.”
She says creators are “denied any meaningful opportunity to prevent YouTube’s public display of works that infringe their copyrights — no matter how many times their works have previously been pirated on the platform.”
The YouTube copyright class action lawsuit alleges that the creators and owners of copyrighted material are forced to monitor YouTube content for infringement on their own using a “notice-and-takedown process,” while studios and record labels are given access to “Content ID” that makes the removal process more streamlined.
Her complaint alleges that not only does YouTube contain a wealth of pirated content but the company also financially benefits from the piracy through advertising revenue and the use of personal data. Schneider says all of this happens at the expense of copyright holders who didn’t give permission for the work to be used, and don’t receive a dime for it.
The Youtube lawsuit has met some hiccups, as one of the Class representatives on the complaint, Pirate Monitor, turned out to be a fraudulent entity that was secretly uploading its own content and then sending takedown notices for it. Pirate Monitor was removed from the Youtube class action.
In July this year, Schneider filed a motion to amend her complaint, adding two additional Class representatives — Uniglobe Entertainment, LLC and AST Publishing — and dozens more works that were allegedly infringed upon, TorrentFreak reported.
YouTube and Google asked the court to deny the motion, saying they had spent hundreds of hours on the case and it kept changing and being delayed.
“The proposed amendments, most notably to add two new parties as putative class representatives, come only after discovery confirmed glaring deficiencies in Schneider’s claims, and after Pirate Monitor dismissed its claims with prejudice under a cloud of fraudulent behavior,” the companies reportedly told the court.
“The request for leave continues Schneider’s shifting sands approach to the litigation. Her original complaint identified only three copyrighted works over which she was suing, and did not identify a single alleged infringement of those works on YouTube.”
However, Schneider hit back last week, saying she’s completely within her rights to amend her complaint and that Google and YouTube had also caused major delays.
The court is yet to rule on the motion.
Are you a YouTube content creator? What do you think of the class action lawsuit claims? Tell us in the comment section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by George A. Zelcs, Randall P. Ewing Jr., Ryan Z. Cortazar, Stephen M. Tillery, Steven M. Berezney, Michael E. Klenov and Carol O’Keefe of Korein Tillery LLC and Joshua Irwin Schiller and Philip C. Korologos of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
The YouTube Content Class Action Lawsuit is Schneider, et al. v. YouTube LLC, et al., Case No. 5:20-cv-04423, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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3 thoughts onGrammy Winning Musician’s YouTube Copyright Fight for ‘Ordinary Creators’ Intensifies
Yes
Wow JT….That’s quite a lot to unpack. To start, I am desperately trying to understand your thought process here…etc. How could anyone possibly expect someone to accept their opinion, or in this case more of an unhinged rant, knowing full well they, the ‘author’, never even read the lawsuit? If the last several years have shown/taught us anything, it would be the unprecedented need to fact check (c’mon now….you know Fox and Friends doesn’t count!), EVERYTHING, at all times! This way you avoid a fate worse than death… being mistaken for a certain orange toned, pathological lying, mysoginistic, 8 megalomaniac and uncouth buffoon! At least in this instance and based upon your obvious disdain for attorneys and the complete and utter disregard for the rights of the content creators/property rights owners, you don’t have to worry about being wrongly mistaken for someone who truly gives a damn about their fellow humans. Rather, they’ll see first hand your callous nature seeping through. And if course that pairs exceptionally well with each and every last one of the aforementioned ‘character’, (or should I say lack thereof?!?) traits! Maybe next time, before trolling, do your due diligence… Doing so makes for a kinder, more compassionate, human being. And another piece of advice… Spell check is there for a reason.
Read over the complaint not look at lawsuit the way she changes things against Youtube /Google is being run by attorneys . Lawsuit itself has no standing ground they need to be counter lawsuite against Maria Schneider /Attorneys ,False Claims ,ask for attorney’s fees, among damage and hours spent working the lawsuit . This is about money the Attorneys that are in Schneider corner are like Paranas they not backing down unless you give them reason to/ counter lawsuite