Erin Ranahan, an associate in Winston & Stawn's litigation department, was cited in The Hollywood Reporter's article "Veoh showdown with Universal Music could preview Viacom/YouTube appeal." In September 2009, Veoh was found to have satisfied the safe harbor protection requirements under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when claims were brought by Universal Music Group (UMG) against the internet broadcasting service.
UMG continues to argue that Veoh maintains editorial control over the videos that appear on its website, and is therefore required to proactively monitor content for copyright infringement. On July 19, Winston & Strawn filed written arguments on behalf of Veoh Networks, Inc., indicating that it is not feasible to monitor the millions of videos that appear on its network, and that the DMCA never envisioned giving online service providers that responsibility. In the brief, Winston & Strawn stated: "UMG's interpretation of the law would, if applied, wreak havoc on a variety of new media portals like Yahoo!, Google and Facebook."
Oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit are expected to commence this fall. |
