Video sharing site YouTube recently removed nearly 30,000 illegally uploaded files at the request of a group representing the Japanese entertainment industry, according to an Associated Press report.
An official from the Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers said on Friday that 29,549 video clips, including television shows, music videos and movies, were discovered on YouTube in early October.
YouTube has removed the illegal material from its site, according to the AP. The San Bruno-based company did not respond to requests for an interview.
YouTube’s quick response illustrates the company’s willingness to comply with copyright holders’ requests, however YouTube’s woes over the site’s blatant copyright violations are likely just beginning.
Google recently acquired YouTube, which streams more than 100 million videos daily, for $1.65 billion. Now that the young company has Google’s deep pockets behind it, observers say other copyright holders will come forward to request compensation for YouTube’s long-standing policy of turning a blind eye to copyright violations on its site.
“They’re a company that built their business on copyright violations,” said Marissa Gluck, an analyst at Los Angeles-based Radar Research. YouTube’s traffic first began to climb when people flocked to the site to watch the illegally uploaded Saturday Night Live video, Lazy Sunday.
NBC threatened to sue YouTube, which removed the video from its site. YouTube has since signed a content distribution deal with NBC, among others.
Other companies exploring legal actions against YouTube for copyright violations include News Corp., which owns rival video site MySpace, and Time Warner.
The Japanese artists’ group may request that YouTube build a screening process into its site that will prevent copyrighted material from being uploaded. Guba, another video-sharing site based in San Francisco, already employs a digital fingerprinting program that attaches unique data to every video clip uploaded to its site as a way to prevent users from uploading copyrighted material. However, such programs are not fool proof.
“I think these issues are going to linger for a long time,” said Ms. Gluck. “[The networks] are still trying to figure out how to monetize their own content. They don’t want to give it away free to YouTube.”
Contact The Writer: AWeinstein@RedHerring.com