Copyrighted content keeps popping up on sites like YouTube and IFILM, and content owners keep having to tell them to pull the clips themselves. The most recent example is a request by C-SPAN, the
public affairs network, to have clips of Stephen Colbert's April 29 performance at the White House Correspondents Association dinner removed. YouTube posted video of the late-night Comedy Central
host's keynote shortly after the dinner; it was viewed more than 2.7 million times in the first 48 hours. C-SPAN sent a letter to both YouTube and IFILM asking that they remove the copyrighted
material. I'm no lawyer, but a piece of copyrighted content being viewed 2.7 million times without authorization has to be grounds for some sort of lawsuit. I'm not sure how long YouTube can get away
with policing the myriad copyright violations that occur on the site after the fact. In this instance, YouTube execs claim there was some confusion--at least among its consumers--that C-SPAN is a
government-funded company (it's actually a private nonprofit) leading them to believe the posting was legal. Anyway, YouTube and IFILM complied as usual, and then two days later, C-SPAN reached an
agreement with Google Video to post the entire dinner, and include a link to C-SPAN's Web site.
Read the whole story at Associated Press »
