Record labels sue Vimeo, claim social network encourages infringement

12:56 PM PST 12/14/2009 by Eriq Gardner

0
0
0
0
0
Email
Print
Comments

Get ready for the next major lawsuit in the ongoing copyright wars.

Capitol Records, Caroline Records and Virgin Records America have filed a massive copyright infringement complaint against Vimeo, a social networking website for filmmakers owned Vimeo's website, but how legit is this content?

The plaintiffs contend that Vimeo actively induces its users to infringe copyrights on sound recordings. According to the complaint, Vimeo holds itself out as a site "about original videos, not original music," but "but actively encourages its users to post audiovisual works that feature, contain, or even consist entirely of preexisting musical works, including Plaintiffs' Recordings."

The labels quote one Vimeo staff member who allegedly advised users: "You can use the music, there are ton's [sic] of videos on here with music."

These days, it's become popular for copyright defendants to claim "safe harbor" from liability Veoh and Google's YouTube have recently done when faced with lawsuits.

But reading the complaint, it's easy to see how this case could take another turn.

Many of the works featured on Vimeo are animation, photographs, drawings and mash-ups done

Over the past year or so, some (like the EFF) have argued that genres like mash-ups constitute a non-commercial transformative fair use of copyright. In the complaint, the labels argue that the music is not incidental, but rather provides a focal point for the content. The plaintiffs compare these videos to "television programs or independent films, with recordings synchronized with the dialog or the visual material."

It'll be interesting to see if a court sees these kinds of videos as transformative or just another form of content requiring proper license.

Vimeo could have the financial backing to vigorously defend the case. On the plaintiffs' side are lawyers from Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, including Christine Lepera and Russell Frackman, who we interviewed last week concerning his representation of the record industry against Napster.

The labels seek maximum statutory damages in the amount of $150,000 for each copyrighted work infringed. That could be tons of dough—and music to the ailing industry's ears.