THe Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed the suits in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against YouTVpc.com and Peekvid.com on behalf of the studios, the first such case where MPAA is going after link sites. The suit alleges that virtually all of the video the two sites link to infringe copyrights and that the sites are liable for contributory copyright infringement and inducement of copyright infringement, reports WSJ.
THR: Jeffrey Liebenson, an entertainment and intellectual property attorney at Herrick, Feinstein in New York, said the chief issue in the suits will be whether the sites are guilty of “secondary” infringing activity. “If they know that direct infringements are occurring and they materially contribute to that, then they may be liable for contributory infringement,” Liebenson said. “If they control the activity where the infringement occurs and obtain a direct financial benefit, (they) would be viewed as a vicarious infringer.”