Media, Tech Firms Team Up on Copyright

Disney, Microsoft lead pact on rules for posting material; Google a no-show
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 19, 2007 10:16 AM CDT
Media, Tech Firms Team Up on Copyright
Google employees work on their laptops at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., May 30, 2007. Google Inc. reports earnings for the fiscal third quarter on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)   (Associated Press)

In an unusual truce, eight media and Internet companies are banding together to combat the explosion of copyrighted material posted on the web, the Wall Street Journal reports. The group, led by Disney and Microsoft, has framed a set of guidelines; copyright holders in the group agree not to pursue Internet companies for infringement if they're followed. There’s one wrinkle: Google, YouTube’s parent, is conspicuously absent.

The guidelines include eliminating from web sites copyright-infringing content uploaded by users, and blocking any illegal material before it is publicly accessible. Other companies in the voluntary pact include NBC, CBS, Fox, MySpace, Veoh and Viacom. Viacom has been locked in a legal battle over infringements with Google; the latter recently introduced a new set of tools to locate copyrighted material on YouTube. (More Google stories.)

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