Journalist joins class action against YouTube

Bob Tur, the chopper-piloting journalist who was first to file a copyright lawsuit against YouTube, will join a class action suit that is led by England's Premier Soccer League.

Tur, who has accused YouTube of encouraging users to pirate copyright material, is dropping his individual suit against the company.

"I carried the ball against YouTube for a year now," Tur said in a statement. "After careful analysis and consideration, I have concluded that the (Premier League) class action is the most effective way for independent copyright holders to secure the judicial remedies that I am seeking."

Also, the law firms handling the class action suit against Google, which acquired YouTube in October, announced Monday that they have new members to the action, including the National Music Publishers' Association, the largest music publishing association in the U.S., the United Kingdom's Rugby Football League and the Finnish Football League Association.

Google and YouTube have said that they follow the letter of the law by removing material once they have received a request from the copyright owner.