Judge Stanton
IN A CLASS action under the Copyright Act, Britain’s top professional soccer league and others sued YouTube and Google Inc. for infringing on transmissions of sporting and other events. In addition to dismissing plaintiffs’ claims for punitive damages under the Copyright Act the court dismissed their claims for statutory damages with respect to all unregistered foreign works, except as to claims based on unregistered foreign works qualifying for Copyright Act §411(c)’s “live broadcast exemption.” The court rejected plaintiffs’ claim that unless §412 of the Act were construed to exempt all foreign works from the registration requirements of Copyright Act §411, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights would be violated.
