DMCA Safe Harbor Upheld for YouTube Once Again In Viacom v. YouTube

On April 18, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York again held that YouTube is subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as an internet service provider despite alleged general knowledge of extensive copyright infringement. 

The case was initiated in 2007 by Viacom and others against YouTube for the alleged hosting of copyright infringing materials. In 2010, the District Court determined on summary judgment that YouTube fell within the safe harbor of the DMCA (718 F.Supp.2d 514 (S.D.N.Y. 2010)). That decision was appealed to the Second Circuit, which vacated the decision and remanded, focusing on whether there was knowledge of "specific infringements" rather than generalized knowledge of infringement. The Second Circuit remanded the case back to the District Court to determine whether, based on the record, YouTube: (a) had knowledge or awareness of specific infringements, (b) was willfully blind to