Opinion: Why suing Apple for YouTube infringement is a load of tosh
A story appeared this week suggesting that Bob Tur may attempt to sue Apple for secondary copyright infringement because the iPhone can be used to display YouTube videos, some of which themselves violate copyright.
What a load of tosh.
Tur told CNET news, "Apple created a device that now traffics in bootlegged content. Steve Jobs is a brilliant man and I'm Apple's biggest fan. It sickens me to think that he can turn a blind eye to (copyright infringement)."
An attorney with expertise in the technology and entertainment fields said it was highly unlikely that Tur would be successful. "I would absolutely bet there is an indemnity provision in the contract with YouTube that protects Apple."
Even if there weren't, the case is laughable.
Tur believes that there is some weight to his argument because YouTube has committed to converting its entire library of videos to the video format the iPhone uses.
By that token, I suppose someone could sue Sony if a movie pirate copies bootlegged copies of a film onto a Blu-ray disc?
Not gonna happen.
The iPhone is merely a carrier. Would Tur like to start trying to sue Microsoft and Mozilla for providing web browsers that can display copyrighted content? I think not.
Of course there is copyrighted material on YouTube - there's illegal content all over the Internet. That doesn't make it the fault of Apple or the iPhone that such content is accessible.
It's up to Google to keep its own house in order - and it certainly has a financial incentive to do its utmost to ensure YouTube is as infringement-free as it can be.
Attempting to sue Apple merely takes focus away from the original problem.
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