Appeals Court Allows Viacom's Big YouTube Case to Move Forward

The Second Circuit Court of Appeal has handed down a big decision in Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube. The appellate circuit rules Thursday that while the district court judge correctly interpreted the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which YouTube parent company Google said shielded it from Viacom's copyright claims, the judge shouldn't have dismissed the case on summary judgment. The appellate circuit judges ruled that a reasonable jury could conclude that YouTube had knowledge or awareness of infringing clips on its system. As such, the case has been remanded back to the trial court.