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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

YouTube: Copyright Lawsuit Plaintiff Uploaded Own Movies Then Claimed Mass Infringement * TorrentFreak:

Early July, Grammy award-winning musician Maria Schneider teamed up with Virgin Islands-based Pirate Monitor Ltd in a class action lawsuit targeting YouTube.

Filed in a California court, the complaint centered on YouTube's alleged copyright failures, including the company's refusal to allow "ordinary creators" to have access to its copyright management tools known as Content ID.

[...] Schneider informed the court that a number of her songs had been posted to YouTube without her permission, noting that she had twice been refused access to Content ID and the "automatic and preemptive blocking" mechanisms that are available to larger rightsholders.

For its part, Pirate Monitor Ltd claimed that its content, including the movie Immigrants – Jóska menni Amerika, was illegally uploaded to YouTube hundreds of times. The company said that while YouTube responded to takedown notices, they often took too long to process. Access to YouTube's Content ID system was denied, Pirate Monitor added.

YouTube Responds to Complaint, Files Counterclaims

[...] Firstly, Pirate Monitor Ltd cannot be trusted since it has already engaged in fraudulent behavior in respect of Content ID. As for Schneider, not only is she suing YouTube over copyrighted music that she and her agents have already granted YouTube a license to use, her own agent has also used Content ID to generate revenue from those works on her behalf.

While the claim that Schneider licensed her content to YouTube and made money through Content ID is surprising, that pales into insignificance when compared to the allegations against Pirate Monitor Ltd.

[...] In addition to requesting damages to compensate for the harm caused by Pirate Monitor's actions, YouTube demands a punitive damages award to compensate for its "fraudulent conduct".

The video platform also seeks an injunction barring Pirate Monitor and its agents from submitting any further DMCA notices that wrongfully claim that material on the YouTube service infringes copyrights held (or are claimed to be held) by Pirate Monitor or anyone it claims to represent.

YouTube and Google's Answer and Counterclaims can be found here (pdf)

Original Submission