Case Background
This website provides information and updates relating to The Football Association Premier League Limited, et. al. v. YouTube, Inc., et al., a copyright infringement class action pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. This action was filed on May 4, 2007 by the Football Association Premier League Limited (the “Premier League”) and Bourne Co. (“Bourne”) to stop the unauthorized and uncompensated use of their creative works and those of all other similarly situated copyright holders whose works have been displayed without permission on the YouTube.com website. The lawsuit names as defendants two YouTube affiliates (YouTube, Inc. and YouTube LLC), as well as YouTube’s corporate parent, Google, Inc. (together, the “Defendants”). According to the complaint, the Defendants have willfully violated the intellectual property rights that were created and made valuable by the investment – sometimes the life-long investment – of creativity, time, talent, energy, and resources of content producers other than
the Defendants. The complaint asserts several legal claims against the Defendants, including direct copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, and vicarious copyright infringement. Plaintiffs seek a court-ordered injunction to prohibit the
Defendants from continuing to violate various laws designed to protect the intellectual property rights of copyright owners such as the Premier League and Bourne. The lawsuit also asks for unspecified damages for
the Defendants' past copyright violations.
The Premier League is the top division
of English soccer that is viewed by
audiences in over 200 countries
worldwide and estimated at 2.59 billion
people. Bourne is one of the leading
independent publishers or music in the
United States. Among its notable
classics are "Let’s Fall in Love"
and "Smile."
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