Apple's iPhone Involved in YouTube Copyright Lawsuit

Bob Tur, one of the US residents who sued Google's YouTube for copyright infringement, is now considering the possibility to sue Apple for the same reason. The main accusation would be the unauthorized distribution of his videos through the iPhone handheld device. As you surely know, iPhone provides YouTube support that allows the gadget owners to view any clip published on the famous online video sharing service straight from their phone. However, it would be quite difficult to accuse the Cupertino company of copyright infringement as the iPhone displays the content uploaded on YouTube.

"Apple created a device that now traffics in bootlegged content. Steve Jobs is a brilliant man and I'm Apple's biggest fan. It sickens me to think that he can turn a blind eye to (copyright infringement)," Bob Tur said for CNET.

Moreover, the two partners, YouTube and Apple, might have an agreement that protects the handheld device from being accused of copyright infringement, Chris Castle, an attorney, said for the same source. "I would absolutely bet there is an indemnity provision in the contract with YouTube that protects Apple."

YouTube is also protected in most of the copyright infringement cases because the DMCA says the online video sharing service is not responsible for the content uploaded by its users since the product works for free without any limitation. However, numerous companies accused the Mountain View company of not doing any effort to filter its content although Google's representatives often talked about a YouTube copyright protection.

The function, rumored to be named Claim Your Content, might be implemented this year into the video platform, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt said at a press conference. Meanwhile, more and more companies are filing complaints against the Mountain View company and its video sharing service because the users are uploading clips without authorization.