YouTube wins in Spanish copyright case

A Spanish federal court ruled in YouTube’s favor on Thursday, which YouTube’s owner, Google, lauded as a “clear victory for the internet and the rules that govern it.” The court dismissed the action by the Spanish broadcaster Telecino, which claimed that YouTube should be held liable when its users upload content that violates the broadcaster’s intellectual property rights. Agreeing with YouTube’s argument that the volume of content posted by users makes it impossible to screen every video, the court referred to the mechanisms already in place to encourage content owners to report violations to the site. This landmark case is the first of its kind in Europe involving YouTube.