YouTube bows to Japanese pressure, warns uploaders against piracy

by Adam Turner

Wednesday, 07 February 2007

YouTube will post warnings in Japanese against uploading copyrighted materials after negotiations with a leading Japanese copyright lobby group.

YouTube executives met with the The Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) last week to address concerns over copyrighted material uploaded to the video-sharing site, reports Reuters.

In November JASRAC demanded - on behalf of 23 Japanese TV stations and entertainment companies - that YouTube implement a system to prevent the users from uploading copyrighted video. The Society set a deadline of December 15, with YouTube requesting an extension for a face to face with the Society to discuss the situation.

November's complaint was made to YouTube two months after it deleted almost 30,000 Japanese video clips in response to copyright holders' concerns, only to see many of the clips re-posted by users. YouTube's policy has been to remove clips that infringe copyright after it receives complaints, but under new owner Google it insists it's working on a better system. YouTube has already agreed to employ audio signature technology to detect copyrighted music, but Google has also set aside a $US200 million war chest for YouTube indemnification.

The announcement comes a week after Viacom demanded YouTube take down more than 100,000 video clips after the two firms failed to reach a distribution deal.{moscomment}

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