Viacom v. YouTube-All Eyes Blind: The Limits of the DMCA in a Web 2.0 World

摘要

The district court's decision is currently under review by the circuit court, and will undoubtedly be tested. In many ways the abrupt reasoning of the court, and its possible overreaching of the law to reach a just social result, may end up hurting YouTube in the end. It should be expected that the issues of specific infringement, pervasive knowledge of massive infringement, and DMCA takedown notices in lieu of other red flags will all come up in the appellate court's opinion. It should be expected that the appellate court will similarly brush up against the issues of statutory damages and the DMCA's silence on content filtering. If the reasoning of the district court is not strong enough to withstand scrutiny, YouTube may still be at risk. These problems suggest that the DMCA needs to be reformed to reflect the Web 2.0 digital landscape. Only then will hamstrung decisions like Viacom v. YouTube be a thing of the past. The DMCA has lasted more than a decade on the tools it provides to content owners and service provides. In order to survive the next decade, the DMCA may need to sharpen its knives.