The set of
principles, published yesterday, aim "to enable the continued
growth and development of user-generated content online and respect
the intellectual property of content owners," according to a
statement from the backers.
They state that sites hosting user-generated content (UGC) must
have use effective filtering technology. The principles cite "the
elimination of infringing content on UGC Services" as the first of
their objectives. They provide that infringing uploads must be
blocked before they are made available to the public.
Operators must also identify and remove links to "sites that are
clearly dedicated to, and predominantly used for, the dissemination
of infringing content or the facilitation of such
dissemination."
On fair use, the principles state: "When sending notices and
making claims of infringement, Copyright Owners should accommodate
fair use."
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said: "The cross-industry dialogue
that resulted in these principles is an important step forward in
establishing the internet as a great platform for video content
– a platform that allows services to innovate and preserves
incentives for all creators, big and small, by respecting
copyright."
However, the market-leading video-sharing site has decided
not to support the plan.
YouTube Director of Engineering Jeremy Doig said: "We appreciate
ideas from the various media companies on effective content
identification technologies. We're glad that they recognise the
need to cooperate on these issues, and we'll keep working with them
to refine our industry-leading tools."
A YouTube spokesman told OUT-LAW that YouTube talked with Disney
"and ultimately decided to keep leading by example, rather than
detail practices for the entire industry."
"We support the goal of collaboration between UGC video hosting
services and rights owners to reduce infringing content posted by
users," he said. "But industry-wide technology mandates are
generally a bad idea. This industry is still young and we believe
that marketplace innovation can lead to creative solutions we can't
even begin to imagine today."
