Tech Shout!

An independent news reporter, Robert Tur has sued video-sharing service YouTube Inc. for copyright infringement. He sued the popular video-sharing service, claiming the Website encouraged users to copy his protected materials.

LA-based Robert Tur gained fame with his helicopter-based coverage of the Los Angeles riots in 1992 and a freeway chase of O.J. Simpson. This lawsuit was filed in U.S District Court, and alleges the footage was posted and circulated on YouTube without his permission.

The copyright infringement lawsuit alleges Tur’s images of the beating of trucker Reginald Denny during the 1992 riots have been downloaded thousands of times. In an interview, Tur had said that this practice is ruining the market for his work, while attracting lucrative advertising revenue to the Website.

Tur is seeking $150,000 per violation (which is approximately $ 150,000,000) and an injunction barring any further use of his material. The complaint states that YouTube encourages infringement by allowing the easy uploading and viewing of footage. YouTube is a free online site, which allows anyone to upload and download video footage. It was founded in 2005.

San-Mateo based YouTube issued a statement saying that their video sharing site is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), which comes to the rescue of web services, by limiting their liability in such cases. But YouTube officially stated that Robert Tur’s claims are without merit. As soon as YouTube learnt of the complaint, Tur’s video clips were removed from the site.