Federal Judge Drops Antitrust Claims In YouTube Suit

Florida federal Judge Darrin Gayles has dismissed Content ID-related antitrust claims against YouTube. The allegations were part of a digital piracy lawsuit filed against the streaming platform last year by movie tycoon Carlos Vasallo. While the lawsuit has been slimmed down, YouTube still has to defend itself against copyright infringement claims.

Spanish-born movie tycoon Carlos Vasallo sued YouTube last year over various piracy-related claims.

The actor and producer owns the rights to the world’s largest collection of Mexican and Latin American movies, many of which are illegally shared on YouTube.

While copyright and other IP allegations against Google and YouTube aren’t new, the case came with an interesting twist. According to Vasallo, YouTube would only allow him to join the Content ID copyright protection program if he agreed to a revenue share deal. In addition, he had had to waive all possible piracy claims that took place in the past.

Read More: Antitrust Chronicle – Bundling & Tying

The movie tycoon refused to accept these terms. Instead, he opted to send old-fashioned DMCA takedown notices. However, according to the complaint filed at a Florida federal court last year, that did little to stop people from pirating his films.

The lawsuit accused YouTube of breaching antitrust laws through ‘illegal tying.’ According to Vasallo, YouTube tied Content ID participation to a required revenue-sharing deal and the condition to waive older copyright claims.

The movie tycoon also accused YouTube of several copyright infringement claims by making movies available on the platform without permission. On top of that, YouTube allegedly violated the DMCA by removing copyright management information from the videos.

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