YouTube Ordered To Remove Videos, Filter Future Uploads By German Court

suraj.sun sends this excerpt from Deutsche Welle: "YouTube was told by a regional court in Hamburg on Friday not to display seven out of 12 contested clips without permission from the German copyright fee collecting society Gema. Gema claimed that its members were losing money every time their music was being displayed on YouTube. A proper licensing fee between the two sides expired in 2009. The Hamburg State Court ruled YouTube would in future have to install an efficient mechanism to filter out such content uploaded by users or face a fine of up to 250,000 euros ($330,000) for each case, or up to six months imprisonment. Knowing that a foolproof filter system looks next to impossible, Gema is now hoping that Google will finally agree to a new bilateral licensing treaty whereby the collecting society would not get an annual lump sum for the contested videos, but a fixed fee each time copyright-protected videos are watched."

Or...

[MightyMartian]

Or Google could just block access to YouTube from German IPs and let them see what they've really won.

Re:Just withdraw from Germany.

[tlhIngan]

I hope that Google plays hardball, and simply blacks out Youtube for Germany. The resulting user outcry would then be turned against Gema.

You don't have to go that far. Since they're only concerned about MUSIC, all Google has to do is give German viewers a different audio track. Maybe saying something like (in German and English):

"The audio for this video has been filtered by request of Gema, who may be contacted at <address (street, phone number, email)>."

Have it repeat the entire video length (in both languages). I'd say replacing the audio portion of the video with that message is an efficient filter. YouTube still serves up the video and blames Gema for the mess.

Do it for all videos seen by German viewers.

Re:Or...

[bfandreas]

They already block access to individual uploads. Interestingly they block anything GEMA lays claim to. Even Universal and BMG stuff. Even more interestingly those urge GEMA to cut the crap because they are fine with the deal Google is offering.

GEMA doesn't reprepresent the interests of those abroad they send money to. They don't represent the interests of local labels. They don't represent the interest of local artists.
Their past business model was to sue boozers that didn't pay up, kindergardens and private citizens to fuel their bloated body of wasteful red tape.

Due to GEMA unwillingness to get a deal on all things online recent contracts with artists FORBID GEMA TO SPEAK ON THEIR BEHALF TO GOOGLE AND GET STUFF BLOCKED.

Idiocy, red tape, bloated, ignorance. Chauffeur driven Maybachs. For teh starving artists :(

Google has to do something

[cmptrs4now]

This is an interesting dilema for Google. In my opinion google should appeal the descision asking GEMA to provide a filtering algorithm that meets GEMAs demand. If GEMA cannot or will not supply the algorithm the Google should be able to ask the courts to reverse the decision based on the evidence that GEMA has asked google to do something that GEMA themselves cannot do.

Re:Or...

[The Moof]

You keep saying that as if it's not even up for consideration. Remember the SOPA blackout day? That can, and did happen. This is just one country, and not even a country that's a primary income source for youtube, so I don't see why they wouldn't do this.

Re:I can't understand Germany

[silanea]

Not Germany, the single most retarded court in the whole of Germany. Hamburg is to copyright suits what Texas is to patent suits. The decision will almost certainly be struck down in the next round. They virtually always are.

Re:Just withdraw from Germany.

[Luckyo]

Because income from YouTube in Germany is likely multiple orders of magnitude bigger then fine for individual infringement. You're forgetting that country is an economic powerhouse that is one of the very few places in the world that keeps on growing at a decent rate even in current economic climate with a lot of users that are wealthy enough to be desirable targets for premium advertising.

Re:Just withdraw from Germany.

[fritsd]

Very few people will understand. The majority will only see that Youtube's sound for videos is malfunctioning, blame Google, and move on. Because most people do not understand the connection between "who they vote for" and "what political decisions are taken".

Yet in other news, a month ago Slashdot reported that 7% of German voters in the Bundesland Saarland voted for the German Pirate Party [slashdot.org].

Re:Just withdraw from Germany.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would I stop using maps and email just because the video service has been pulled? A few zealouts will camp out and use Bing for a week and also send a notice to all 10 of their friends to change their email addresses. Everyone else will realize YouTube != the internet, won't want to change their email address on every blog, bank account and billpay service they have, and will get over it. Maybe, maybe if you're lucky people will outcry and blame Gema for blocking their ability to see what used to be available for free