French Indie Label Group SPPF Sues YouTube Over Copyrights

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 18, 2009 - 10:32am.

Paris - SPPF, a French royalty collection society for independent record labels, has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, claiming $13.9 million in damages over videos removed from YouTube at SPPF's request last year that have since reappeared, Billboard reports.

YouTube told Billboard that SPPF has not signed up for its Content ID service, which enables copyright owners to submit copies of their works, which are then actively blocked from upload by YouTube.

"We can't discuss a pending case but bear in mind that YouTube offers professional content creators and producers powerful and free tools to protect, promote and monetize their content by using Content ID," the company told Billboard.

"Many indies as well as major music companies are using these tools to protect their content in France. The protection of copyrights is best achieved by joint efforts between creators and online platforms, not by lengthy and costly lawsuits."

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/kebe6 (Billboard)

http://www.sppf.com