14 DAY TRIAL // If you thought it has ended, well it hasn't. YouTube is again involved in a legal dispute as the famous car producer Volkswagen sent a subpoena to the video sharing service to obtain private information about a user registered for the service. According to Wired, the YouTube member uploaded a VW commercial which was modified with Nazi elements, turning it into a parody of the original advertisement created by the car producer. The case is a little bit special because VW could have filed a lawsuit against the video sharing service YouTube, but it preferred to take legal action against the user.
The decision is quite logical since the Mountain View super giant Google always sustains that YouTube is protected by the DMCA Act which sustains that technology cannot be blamed for copyright infringement because the users are the ones who upload clips on the page. "YouTube complies with valid U.S. legal process, such as a valid court order or subpoena. However, as a matter of policy we generally do not publicly discuss legal matters, including the number of times we have been subpoenaed", a YouTube representative said according to Wired.
This is not the first case when the YouTube members can be sent to prison for a simple clip uploaded on the official page of the service. In the past, Fox required the private information of a user nicknamed ECOtotal who uploaded pirated clips of its movies even before they were officially released. At that time, YouTube had nothing to do than to offer the information so the user was sent to the judge.
But it seems that the uploaders have an alternative. According to Wired, they can go do the judge and require him to reject the subpoena in order to remain anonymous. It was not yet confirmed, but it's expected to see a long battle between VW and the secret user.