An adult entertainment firm has filed filed a lawsuit against Veoh Networks, an online video-sharing service recently funded by MIchael Eisner’s new fund. The complaint alleges that Veoh was responsible for copyright infringement by allowing videos owned by Io Group to be accessed through Veoh’s online service without permission. It alleges that consumers viewed its copyrighted works over 40,000 times through Veoh’s site between June 1 and June 22.
“It’s unclear how broadly the Io Group suit could effectively challenge the legal protections for video-sharing sites many legal experts believe such practices provide. But the case could emerge as a high-profile test of the basic legal assumptions that have allowed consumer video-sharing sites to flourish over the past year.”
This comes as another WSJ story says that Veoh has attracted some heat for its willingness to host adult content…But that changed late last week, when Veoh quietly removed the “adult” category from its site and deleted thousands of risque videos. The San Diego company also said it was cracking down on copyrighted material.