Hi Friends,
Today Google filed an answer to Viacom’s complaint, basically saying Viacom’s complaint is in conflict with the DMCA (the “careful balance” established by Congress between copyright holders and the Internet users and companies). There is the standard paragraph by paragraph admit and deny the allegations and facts stated in Viacom’s complaint and…
then the Defenses:
- DMCA Safe Harbors Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part because Defendants are protected by one or more of the DMCA Safe Harbors in 17 U.S.C. § 512.
- License Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part by licenses, express and implied, granted or authorized to be granted by Plaintiffs.
- Fair Use Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part by the doctrine of fair use.
- Failure to Mitigate Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part because Plaintiffs have failed to mitigate their damages, if any.
- Failure to State a Claim Plaintiffs’ allegations fail to state a claim for copyright infringement of any work not listed on Exhibit A of the Complaint.
- Innocent Intent Plaintiffs’ damages, if any, are limited by Defendants’ innocent intent.
- Copyright Misuse Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part by the doctrine of copyright misuse.
- Estoppel Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part by the doctrine of estoppel.
- Waiver Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part by the doctrine of waiver.
- Unclean Hands Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part by the doctrine of unclean hands.
- Laches Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part by the doctrine of laches.
- Substantial Non-Infringing Use Plaintiffs’ claims are barred in whole or in part based on the doctrine of substantial non- infringing use, although Defendants submit Plaintiffs bear the burden of proving the doctrine’s inapplicability.
You can see all the e-filed documents for Viacom v. YouTube / Google here. They are updated daily, and you can subscribe to an RSS feed to be alerted to new documents.
We will be adding more cases in the near future as we build this section out. The current cases we are tracking can be seen on our Cases in the News section. All for free… of course 🙂
Prediction — Google wins based on the DMCA Safe Harbor defense.
Peace,
Tim
:: It’s Not Safe, I’m With Stupid by Aimee Mann
