Legal Question in Technology Law in Washington

Starting an adult video site with user submitted content.

Hi there, I want to start an adult website like youtube. Users will be able to submit videos to my website which will then host and play back videos to users who request to view them. Another function of my website is it will let users easily grab their videos from other sites they may have videos on. My hopes is to convert these users so they will upload videos to my site instead of other's.

I was reading about the court case of IO Group Inc. vs. Veoh Networks Inc. . In that case the district court ruled that Veoh was entitled to the protection of the statute's ''safe harbor'' provision because '' Veoh does not itself actively participate or supervise the uploading of files. Nor does it preview or select the files before the upload is completed. Instead, video files are uploaded through an automated process which is initiated entirely at the volition of Veoh's users.''

Since my website will allow users to grab videos from other websites, will this disqualify us from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbor protection?


Asked on 3/15/09, 9:21 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Starting an adult video site with user submitted content.

Probably not, since it sounds like the users will be the ones deciding what to post. But whether the Act will apply to your site depends upon the specifics of how it works, not how you choose to describe it. You should hire a lawyer to work with you *before* you launch this site to minimize your risk.

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Answered on 3/15/09, 6:18 pm


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