Judge Louis Stanton
Viacom International Inc. brought an action against YouTube Inc., alleging that it willfully blinded itself to specific infringements. Viacom also claimed that YouTube’s search technologies facilitated access to infringing material by suggesting terms for users to add to their search query, which assists "users in locating infringing works by providing variations of the complete name or content owner of a copyrighted work even though the user has not typed the work’s or owner’s full name" and by presenting viewers with links to clips "’related’ to a video that a user watches," which "likely will direct" a user viewing "an infringing clip from a major media company like Viacom" to "other similar infringing videos." The court noted that Viacom did not supply the specific locations of infringements but, instead, left YouTube to find the infringing clips. The court granted YouTube’s motion for summary judgment, finding that YouTube’s search technologies are an "automated system" where "users alone choose" to view infringing content, that YouTube does "not participate in those decisions," and that YouTube therefore does not control the infringing activity.
