YouTube Gets Tough on Copyright Content

On September 17 we reported Nexicon’s plan to launch a system that collects revenue from illegal file sharing. We also told you that the company was engaged in developing a version of the same service for YouTube. This post deals exactly with this matter.

It seems that the most popular video sharing web site on the Internet has encountered an increasing number of legal issues because of copyrighted material. In an effort to fight piracy, a large number of record labels have released their own official YouTube channels, which allow them to distribute music videos and artist interviews directly to consumers.

Sam Glines, Nexicon's VP of Strategy considers "this is a significant development for our company as we continue to provide innovative solutions for copyright holders in the digital marketplace." He added that "Content owners now have the ability to monetize their copyrighted digital media and products, and we are here to deliver these capabilities."

Nexicon will be in charge with monitoring user activity on YouTube and matching users' uploads against a database of copyrighted material using the MARC (Monitor, Analyze, Report, and Collect) anti-piracy network. Moreover, some users will be sent DMCA notices along with the chance of settling online "in less than three clicks."

We guess YouTube users will not welcome the move unlike copyright holders who are desperately trying to protect their content published on YouTube. Many critics of the new action see in Nexicon’s "Get Amnesty" program another expression of the industry’s greed just as in the case of RIAA’s already “popular” settlements.

The Nexicon service will have the capability to filter and examine from billions of files shared via P2P networks and will propose to illegal file sharers to instantly pay for their downloaded files using MasterCard, PayPal, Visa, and electronic checks.