YouTube wins user copyright fight in long-running top EU court battle

The case marks the latest development in a long-running battle between Europe's $1-trn creative industry and online platforms, with the former seeking redress for unauthorised works that are uploaded

Google's YouTube won its latest copyright-infringement challenge after Europe’s top court said online platforms are not liable for users uploading unauthorised works unless the platforms failed to take quick action to remove or block access to the content.

The case marks the latest development in a long-running battle between Europe's $1-trillion creative industry and online platforms, with the former seeking redress for unauthorised works that are uploaded.

It is also part of the wider debate on how much online platforms and social media should do to police the posting of unauthorised, illegal or hateful content, an issue that European Union regulators are targeting with tough new rules that could come into force next year.

"As currently stands, operators of online platforms do not, in principle, themselves make a communication to the public of copyright-protected content illegally posted online by users of those platforms,” the EU Court of Justice said.

“However, those operators do make such a communication in breach of copyright where they contribute, beyond merely making those platforms available, to giving access to such content to the public,” judges said.

The EU court said platforms could also be liable if they do not put in place the appropriate technological tools to tackle copyright breaches by their users or where they provide tools on their platforms for illegal sharing of content.

In response to the court ruling a YouTube spokesperson said: “YouTube is a leader in copyright and supports rights holders being paid their fair share.”

“That's why we’ve invested in state-of-the-art copyright tools which have created an entirely new revenue stream for the industry. In the past 12 months alone we have paid $4 billion to the music industry, over 30 per cent of which comes from monetised user generated content."