No knowledge of infringement, no secondary copyright liability for YouTube

This case underscores that platforms like YouTube, when promptly addressing DMCA takedown notices, are not necessarily held liable for user-uploaded content that infringes copyright.

Plaintiff sued defendant YouTube accusing it of secondary copyright infringement liability — that YouTube was contributorily and vicariously liable for infringement concerning three videos that nonparty TV-Novosti (operator of various RT channels, including RT Arabic) posted on YouTube. These videos contained content from documentary videos plaintiff had created and for which it owned the copyright.

Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint. The lower court granted the motion to dismiss. Plaintiff filed a motion for leave to file an amended complaint, which the court denied. That court had determined that the proposed amendments would be futile. Plaintiff sought review with the Second Circuit, arguing it had sufficiently alleged YouTube’s liability under theories of contributory and vicarious liability. On appeal, the court affirmed the denial of the motion to amend.

The court rejected plaintiff’s argument that YouTube was liable for infringement by failing to delete TV-Novosti’s entire YouTube account. Plaintiff’s argument apparently went something like this: “We made YouTube aware of the infringement by sending a DMCA takedown notice. Though YouTube took down the videos (which it did not catch in its copyright-detection technology) once it found out about them, by continuing to provide the platform for this infringer, YouTube took on liability for the infringement.”

The court held that it agreed with the lower court’s denial of the motion for leave to amend. “[B]ecause YouTube promptly and permanently removed the [allegedly infringing videos] from its platform once it received the plaintiff’s DMCA notices, the Amended Complaint does not permit an inference that YouTube acted in concert with TV-Novosti.”

Business Casual Holdings, LLC v. YouTube, LLC, 2023 WL 6842449 (2d Cir., October 17, 2023)

See also: BitTorrent site liable for Grokster style inducement of copyright infringement

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