Google’s YouTube and a company called Live Digital will offer no
refuge to users who uploaded pirated copies of Fox Television’s “24”
and “The Simpsons” onto their video platforms.
In an e-mail to internetnews.com, a 20th Century Fox Television
spokesperson said that Google and Live Digital complied with
subpoenas issued by the U.S. District Court in Northern California and
disclosed to Fox the identities of two individuals who illegally
uploaded entire episodes of “24” prior to its broadcast and DVD release.
According to copies of the subpoena applications, Fox found this
season’s first four episodes of “24” on LiveDigital and YouTube on
Jan. 8, a full week before they were to air for the first time
in the U.S.
Fox said a YouTube user who goes by the handle “ECOTtotal”
uploaded 12 episodes of the popular animated show “The Simpsons.”
The LiveDigital user’s display name was “Jorge Romero.”
“We intend to use the information provided to pursue all available
legal remedies against those who infringed our copyrights,” 20th
Century Fox Television Vice President of Media Relations Chris
Alexander told internetnews.com.
The U.S. District Court first instructed Google and Live Digital to
produce identifying information in identical subpoenas, pursuant to
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, issued Jan. 24 after L.A.
law firm Loeb & Loeb filed them for Fox on Jan. 18.
Since Google purchased YouTube for $1.56 billion last fall, the
company has been besieged by similar complaints of copyright infringement.
Last week, for example, media giant Viacom demanded YouTube
take down 100,000 clips, including content from MTV, Comedy Central
and other networks.
Viacom said “it has become clear that YouTube is unwilling to come to
a fair market agreement” on content distribution.
Some media companies have been more congenial. According to a Google
spokesperson, of the big four music labels, only EMI is yet to sign a
revenue-sharing deal with Google.
And today, Digital Music Group announced it entered into an
agreement with Google to make more than 4,000 hours of video content
and approximately 40,000 music recordings available to the YouTube
community.
DMGI currently owns or controls the digital distribution
rights to classic television episodes of “Gumby,” “I Spy,” “My
Favorite Martian,” “Peter Gunn” and more.