YouTube Could Be Liable for Unauthorised Uploads If Slow to Act, German Court Rules

YouTube Could Be Liable for Unauthorised Uploads If Slow to Act, German Court Rules
A silhouette of a mobile user next to a screen projection of Youtube logo on March 28, 2018. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters
Reuters
Updated:

BERLIN—Google’s YouTube and other platforms could have to pay copyright damages over unauthorized uploads even if the content was put online by a third party, Germany’s top court ruled.

The platforms would be liable only if they did not act quickly to block access once they had learned of illegal uploads, the court said in its ruling on Thursday.