Could YouTube drag Apple into copyright fight?

Here's something that shouldn't surprise many people: The video journalist who has been in a closely watched legal tussle with YouTube is also peeved at Apple.

Bob Tur is famous in Los Angeles for buzzing around the city in his helicopter and filming historical (and often bizarre) moments, such as O.J. Simpson's slow-speed Bronco chase, oodles of high-speed police pursuits and the beating of a trucker at the beginning of the Los Angeles riots. A year ago this month, he filed a suit against YouTube, claiming the company encouraged copyright violations on its site.

He's irked at Apple now because the new iPhone has a feature that allows users to view YouTube videos.

"Apple created a device that now traffics in bootlegged content," Tur told CNET News.com. "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)."

Tur said he may sue Apple for secondary copyright infringement, but legal experts are highly skeptical that Apple would ever be found liable.

"I would absolutely bet there is an indemnity provision in the contract with YouTube that protects Apple," said Chris Castle, an attorney who has represented both technology and entertainment companies in copyright cases. Castle also points out that YouTube is providing the videos, not Apple, which would make suing the latter company for copyright infringement even harder. Both Apple and YouTube declined to comment.

In the iPhone's main menu is a button that connects iPhone owners to more than 10,000 YouTube videos specially formatted for the device. To do it, YouTube converted clips from the Flash format to H.264. The iPhone is not compatible with Flash.

I took a quick look on a co-worker's iPhone and found six or so clips that appear without their owner's permission. In addition to Tur's material, there were clips from Adult Swim, the comedy cable channel operated by Turner Broadcasting. A Turner spokeswoman said the animated shorts were uploaded to YouTube without permission.

An unauthorized highlight clip of French soccer great Thierry Henry also appears without permission of England's Premier League, according to Louis Solomon, an attorney from the New York-based law firm of Proskauer Rose, which has brought a class action suit against Google and YouTube on behalf of some of the world's top professional soccer leagues.

YouTube has said it plans to reformat its entire video library for the iPhone. Does that mean litigious times are ahead for Jobs & Co.?

[gonzotherat3]

what?!!!

Tur's lawsuit is stupid if I can use that word. Why should google or Apple be held accountable for something that they have no control over? It is the people who upload the videos to the site that should be held responsible! There are tons of uploads a day to YouTube that the staff probably can't keep up with it. You know how long and how much manpower it would take to keep track of and figure out and research which videos are "bad" and which ones are okay? We'd never get to see our videos displayed for a long time and it would probably turn into a paid program so that they could pay all the staff that has to deal with "bad" videos.

[MSSlayer]

Google

Google owns YouTube.<br /><br />Spouting off against Apple is just this idiots way of trying to get interest back on him.<br /><br />I am waiting for him to start attacking all web browser makers.

[MadKiwi]

Seems to me...

... that using this logic he will next be suing all browser publishers, and then the OS producers that allow the browsers to run, and then the hardware manufacturers that run the OSes, and then the monitor makers that allow us to view the infringing clips, and the electricity producers for supplying the power etc. etc.

[gravityfactory]

Welcome...

Welcome to the new age guys - get used to it.<br />The new world is about exposure - your content will get out there and stay out there, find creative ways to continue to benefit from it.<br />Adult swim has gained viewers and interest because of YouTube - people even now know who films those crazy L.A. chases (outside of people who live there) - exposure, it works.<br />Complaining and suing won't work anymore - that's how it is and that's how it will stay.

[sbwinn]

Mention the iPhone. . .

Mention the iPhone . . . get a free headline. Why not add every <br />YouTube-capable web browser or video software player to his <br />complaint? See above. Mention Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, <br />Safari, or anything else you can use to view YouTube . . . no <br />headline for you!

[dhavleak]

not the same thing..

..not that it adds any merit to this dudes case -- he's definitely just fishing.<br /><br />But it isn't the same thing -- web browsers are *generic* -- they are not *targetted* at youtube which is a known copyright infringer.<br /><br />Its *somewhat* comparable to the napster argument -- napster was targetted towards mp3 downloads -- as opposed to (some) other p2p software (eg. limewire) that was generic.

[brunodexter]

re: He's fishing

This guy is fishing for a settlement. In no way has he been harmed <br />by Apple. This guy and his lawyer are simply looking for a little <br />legal extortion.<br />I hope Apple countersues.

[dargon19888]

Fish? Yes and No...

Does his complaint hold merit?<br />No.<br />Its akin to suing the VCR manufacturers because the devices could be used to bootleg tapes or steal copyright content.<br /><br />As to his case against google aka youtube, it does have merit. There were things that youtube could have done to halt or reduce the abuse of their site by posters of unauthorized videos. Google does have a vested interest in not putting these protections in place since the bulk of the hits on YouTube appears to be on questionable (copyrighted) material. And Google makes revenue from advertisements on these sites.<br /><br />As to Apple having a case against this guy for a countersuit? Not likely.<br /><br />Yes this is a tactic to put his lawsuit in the forefront.

[aristotle_dude]

Is his name Tur or Turd?

Inquiring minds want to know because he seems to be acting more like the latter.

[bobby_brady]

If Apple is sued, so should Xerox

Imagine, all those copyrighted works that were reproduced on Xerox machines! <br /><br />Anyways, Bob and his pathetic lawyers are only out trying to fish for more $$$. Their simply POS.

[Hardrada]

Will they sue Nintendo Wii next

Will they sue all consoles which have browser which can play youtube videos ?

[technewsjunkie]

If I read a slanderous newspaper article am I guilty??

Ridiculous.

[ethana2]

Yeah....

Copyright just needs to die already. Creative commons and public domain, all the way. I'm sick of hearing about these people and their problems.<br /><br />I long for the day when I can have the same independence from sound and video copyright through cc that I now enjoy from code copyright through the gnu.

[dotmike]

Request a DMCA takedown, dumbass

The much maligned DMCA has a perfectly good mechanism for <br />copyright infringement like this:<br /><br />Inform YouTube that you are the copyright holder and that you <br />don't want your material to be viewed and they will take it down <br />very promptly.<br /><br />YouTube is simply an extension of the already internet's vast <br />storage: instead of uploading to an individual's homepage, <br />users can store video on YouTube's server.<br /><br />YouTube can't police things that are uploaded, but they'll <br />remove it if you are the copyright holder.

[Llib Setag]

Other Phones have YouTube as well...

Are ALL of those phone manufacturers &#38; carriers going to be sued as well? ( Verizon's new TV ads showing YOUTUBE on their phones with the Premium plan )

[billmosby]

Makes sense (not)

In the usual way lawsuits go, that is. Who has deeper pockets, <br />YouTube or Apple? No merit to the lawsuit, so it'll probably only <br />cost a few mil to get it thrown out.

[BigJohn13]

I put the word iPhone in something..

And I automaticatlly get free press.. Thats all this is about..

[Maccess]

Sue the power company

...for providing the power to run the devices.<br />...then, sue the property developer for providing the house the iphone is used in.<br />...finally, sue the judge when he laughs you out of court.

[Anon-Y-mous]

If this was a MS device you'd all be rejoicing

.. at the fact they would be sued for copyright infringement, now wouldn't you?

[maverick_nick]

Here's a copy for you...

The more aggressive media companies become, the more people are going to infringe copyright laws. People by default want to do the right thing, but then you get some jerk threatening people about infringing copyright laws, and people say, "Who the hell does that guy think he is!? I'll show him, I'll copy the **** out of everything they produce."<br /><br />Marketing 101... don't threaten your customers.<br /><br />Media companies can do what they like, but as long as we live in a digital world, we'll continue to copy stuff, and even Bill Gates said that there's no way that you can stop cheap forms of copying. Whether it's distributed on YouTube or some other network, it will be distributed.