Google is reporting that it has won its long legal battle with Viacom. Google Vice President & General Counsel Kent Walker had the following to say on the YouTube blog:
Today, the court granted our motion for summary judgment in Viacom’s lawsuit with YouTube. This means that the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. We’re extremely gratified by this decision and the now established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are immune from liability when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them protect their rights online.
This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other. We’re excited about this decision and look forward to renewing our focus on supporting the incredible variety of ideas and expression that millions of people post and watch on YouTube every day around the world.
The battle between Viacom and YouTube has been raging for over three years. More on its history can be found here.
Google was kind enough to provide a link to the U.S. District Court document outlining Google’s victory in legalese.