San Francisco - A lawsuit filed against Viacom by the creators of a parody video removed from YouTube as a copyright violation has been dropped, after Viacom admitted that it erred in seeking to have the video taken down.

Digital civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Stanford Law School's Fair Use Project filed the suit on behalf of MoveOn.org and Brave New Films, whose "Stop the Falsiness" video parodied and used elements of Viacom's "The Colbert Report" program.

The groups said the video falls under the "fair use" provisions of copyright law, and thus the takedown notice from Viacom was unfair.

The EFF also said Viacom initially denied asking YouTube to remove the video, but later conceded it was the source of the request.

The company agreed to create a website and e-mail hotline to review any similar complaints over takedown notices in the future.

Viacom told the Associated Press that the lawsuit "could have been avoided" if the groups had contacted the company before filing it.

"If copyright owners are going to be sending hundreds of thousands of DMCA takedown notices, they also have a responsibility to protect the legitimate free speech rights of the citizen creators who rely on platforms like YouTube," said EFF senior intellectual property attorney Fred von Lohmann.

Related Links:
http://www.eff.org/news

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_hi_te/youtube_viacom_2 (AP)