Tech Shout!

The FA Premier League, which is England’s and one of the world’s top football league is dragging Google Inc.’s online-video sharing website YouTube to court. Joining them, in what seems to be a big battle, are US based music publishers Bourne Co.

The lawsuit was filed in the S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It states, “Defendants, which own and operate the Web site YouTube.com, have knowingly misappropriated and exploited this valuable property for their own gain without payment or license to the owners of the intellectual property”

However, Kent Walker who is the general counsel for Google stated, “These suits simply misunderstand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which balances the rights of copyright holders against the need to protect Internet communications and content. They threaten the way people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment, and political and artistic expression over the Internet.”

Previously YouTube has been sued by many media companies. Nevertheless, they have also tied up with some of them to offer media content to the users. The FA Premier League is beamed in more than 204 countries and its telecast rights are sold for around $950 million.

It seems that the legal tussle between YouTube and the broadcasters will never get over.