A group of Japanese media companies slammed Google's YouTube, accusing the online video site of not doing enough to rid itself of copyrighted videos. Calls were made for the company to make
wholesale changes to its site; the coalition was also skeptical that a new video recognition technology would sufficiently guard against copyright infringement.
"YouTube has to stop
how it runs its site, and get rid of the illegal clips. We want them to reset the service," music composer Hideki Matsutake told reporters in Tokyo after the group's second meeting with YouTube
executives in a year. "We demand that all copyrighted material be removed immediately."
As it is in the U.S., YouTube is massively popular in Japan, trouncing competition from
Japanese video sites. The company launched a Japanese-language version of the site in June, which-per the media coalition's demands-contains clear warnings against uploading copyrighted materials.
Even so, officials said that Japanese TV and music clips proliferate the video site. YouTube responded by saying that it immediately complies with requests to take down unauthorized material,
highlighting its removal of 30,000 files after the Japanese media consortium complained in October. Meanwhile, YouTube promises that its digital fingerprinting technology will be available by the end
of the year.
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