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A battle in the copyright war between Silicon Valley and
Hollywood is being fought in federal court in Chicago.
Flava Works Inc., a Miami-based company that produces
X-rated videos, has sued an online video-sharing service
over alleged unauthorized posting of its content.
U.S. District Judge John Grady imposed a preliminary
injunction last year against the video website,
myVidster.com, and the company has appealed.
Internet giants Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. have come
to the defense of… (KAREN BLEIER, Getty-AFP…)
October 15, 2006
Copyright infringement cases are as common as slip-and-fall suits. But these legal proceedings have
attracted attention from powerful interests.
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Internet Companies
Copyright Infringement
Internet giants Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. have come to the defense of myVidster.com. They jointly
submitted a court document, known as a friend-of-the-court brief, advocating that the 7th Circuit U.S.
Court of Appeals overturn Grady's injunction.
Flava Works has a friend of its own. The Motion Picture Association of America Inc., which represents
the concerns of big movie studios, filed a brief this week urging the appellate court to uphold Grady's
ruling.
The heavyweights are facing off to protect their interests in the larger issue of balancing copyright and
other intellectual property in the digital age. Sharing information on such sites as Facebook, Google and
other social networking outlets has transformed how people communicate with friends, families and coworkers. But Web technologies also created rampant piracy that has harmed copyright holders and
consumers.
The challenges of the online marketplace led to a big skirmish in Congress earlier this year when the
MPAA and other businesses lobbied for anti-piracy legislation. Google, Wikipedia and other Internet
companies successfully stalled the bills by criticizing them as bad for innovation and an affront to free
speech.
YouTube's owner, Google, along with Facebook and other social networking sites, argue that they are
intermediaries and should not be liable if others steal copyright materials and post them on their
websites. The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act shields some Internet companies from liability if they
meet certain conditions, such as removing content at the request of the copyright holder.
"Proper legal treatment of web technology is important," said Facebook and Google in their legal brief in
the Flava Works suit. "Lack of certainty not only harms established businesses like Google and
Facebook, but may prevent investment in and development of the next Google or the next Facebook."
The MPAA also argues that its members and other content producers need a "predictable legal
landscape."
"The district court's ruling helps preserve the crucial balance essential for copyright law's success in the
digital age," the MPAA wrote in its brief.
Phillip Bleicher, chief executive of Flava Works, said he is not surprised that his small case has
become prominent. "It's an important case because there is so much copyright infringement going on,"
he said.
MyVidster.com is much like YouTube in that it allows users to post videos and share them with friends.
Marques Gunter, an Indianapolis salsa-dance instructor, started the site about three years ago,
according to his attorneys, William Lenz and Kevin May, both of Chicago.
Flava Works alleges that Gunter's site allowed users to post copyright videos without permission. Gunter
also allegedly ignored requests starting in 2010 to remove links to its X-rated content and ban repeat
offenders, Flava Works said.
Gunter's attorneys argued that the videos posted to myVidster are merely links to third-party servers, so
the site is not infringing on Flava Works' copyrights. Lenz and May found that a federal appellate court in
California had ruled that parties that link to third-party materials can't be a "direct infringer."
But Grady disagreed with the argument and granted the preliminary injunction.
"The position that Judge Grady took is what has caused the case to draw so much attention," May said.
"We have content owners and content providers watching this."
Lawyer for the Creative Arts, which provides free legal services, referred the case to May and Lenz,
partners at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg in Chicago.
asachdev@tribune.com
Twitter @ameetsachdev
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