From the Guardian
Soccer's Premier League is to sue internet site YouTube for alleged copyright infringement.
The organisation said the video-sharing website had "knowingly misappropriated" its intellectual property by encouraging footage to be viewed on its site.
The English Premier League and US music publisher Bourne launched the legal action in the US District Court in Manhattan, New York, claiming unspecified damages.
The lawsuit seeks class action status and asks for a disgorgement of profits made by the alleged actions, as well as unspecified damages.
They said YouTube had consciously encouraged people to view content on its site in order to raise its profile, violating the material's commercial value.
Named as defendants are YouTube Inc, YouTube LLC and YouTube's corporate parent, Google.
The lawsuit said a scheme by which website visitors could access, view, and otherwise exploit copyrighted materials without having to pay their owners made the site valuable enough for Google to pay £532m to buy YouTube in November.
In a statement, Google general counsel Kent Walker defended the site, saying: "These suits simply misunderstand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which balances the rights of copyright holders against the need to protect internet communications and content.
"They threaten the way people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment, and political and artistic expression over the internet."
The combined TV, radio and internet rights to show live Premier League games and highlights over the next three years fetched £2.7bn in a series of auctions, making protecting its right a priority for the Premier League bosses.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6609872,00.html
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