The Motion Picture Association of America and the Independent Film & Television Alliance have thrown themselves into the $1 billion standoff between Viacom and Google.
The entertainment company is currently appealing asking a federal appeals court in New York to reverse a lower court's decision that found Youtube had not violated copyright law. Google owns the video site, and maintained that it promptly removed any content that was found to violate copyright laws.
In an amicus brief, the MPAA and the IFTA, two of Hollywood's largest trade groups, said that by dismissing Viacom's claims, the lower court had encouraged Internet piracy.
"The decision of the lower court, if not overturned, will allow businesses to profit by inviting massive amounts of online copyright theft and avoid liability simply by turning a blind eye to the direct, illegal effects of their business models,” said Daniel Mandil, general counsel and chief content protection officer of the MPAA.
In the court filing, the MPAA says the court's decision contradicted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Supreme Court decision in MGM vs. Grokstar. Passed in 1998, the copyright act criminalizes the digital distribution of copyrighted works.
In "Grokstar," the Supreme Court found that the software company had violated the law by allowing users to trade copyrighted material through peer-to-peer sharing.
The MPAA isn't the only organization weighing in on the battle between big media and big tech. Earlier this week, the American Intellectual Property Law Association filed a brief asking the court to uphold the lower court's decision and reject Viacom's arguments.
