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10-3270, 10-3342
Viacom Int’l, Inc., Football Ass’n Premier League Ltd. v. YouTube, Inc.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
August Term, 2011
(Argued: October 18, 2011 Decided: April 5, 2012)
Docket No. 10-3270-cv
VIACOM INTERNATIONAL, INC., COMEDY PARTNERS, COUNTRY MUSIC TELEVISION, INC., PARAMOUNT
PICTURES CORPORATION, BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION, LLC,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
YOUTUBE, INC., YOUTUBE, LLC, GOOGLE, INC.,
Defendants-Appellees.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Docket No. 10-3342-cv
THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION PREMIER LEAGUE LIMITED, on behalf of themselves and all others
similarly situated, BOURNE CO., CAL IV ENTERTAINMENT, LLC, CHERRY LANE MUSIC PUBLISHING
COMPANY, INC., X-RAY DOG MUSIC, INC., FÉDÉRATION FRANÇAISE DE TENNIS, MURBO MUSIC
PUBLISHING, INC., STAGE THREE MUSIC (US), INC.,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
Robert Tur, d/b/a Los Angeles News Service, The Scottish Premier League Limited, The Music
Force Media Group LLC, The Music Force, LLC, Sin-Drome Records, Ltd., on behalf of themselves
and all others similarly situated, National Music Publishers’ Association, The Rodgers & Hammerstein
Organization, Edward B. Marks Music Company, Freddy Bienstock Music Company, d/b/a
Bienstock Publishing Company, Alley Music Corporation,
Plaintiffs,
v.
YOUTUBE, INC., YOUTUBE, LLC, GOOGLE, INC.,
Defendants-Appellees.
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Before: CABRANES and LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judges.
Appeal from the judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of
New York (Louis L. Stanton, Judge), granting summary judgment to the defendants-appellees on all
claims of direct and secondary copyright infringement based on a finding that the defendants-
appellees were entitled to safe harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(“DMCA”), 17 U.S.C. § 512. Although the District Court correctly held that the § 512(c) safe
harbor requires knowledge or awareness of specific infringing activity, we vacate the order granting
summary judgment because a reasonable jury could find that YouTube had actual knowledge or
awareness of specific infringing activity on its website. We further hold that the District Court erred
by interpreting the “right and ability to control” infringing activity to require “item-specific”
knowledge. Finally, we affirm the District Court’s holding that three of the challenged YouTube
software functions fall within the safe harbor for infringement that occurs “by reason of” storage at
the direction of the user, and remand for further fact-finding with respect to a fourth software
function.
Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded.
PAUL M. SMITH, Jenner & Block LLP, Washington, DC
(William M. Hohengarten, Scott B. Wilkens, Matthew
S. Hellman, and Susan J. Kohlmann, Jenner & Block
LLP, New York, NY, and Washington, DC; Theodore
B. Olson and Matthew D. McGill, Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher LLP, Washington, DC; Stuart J. Baskin,
Shearman & Sterling LLP, New York, NY, on the brief),
for Plaintiffs-Appellants Viacom International, Inc., et al.
CHARLES S. SIMS, Proskauer Rose LLP, New York, NY
(William M. Hart, Noah Siskind Gitterman, and
Elizabeth A. Figueira, Proskauer Rose LLP, New
The Honorable Roger J. Miner, who was originally assigned to the panel, died prior to the resolution of this case. The
remaining two members of the panel, who are in agreement, have determined the matter. See 28 U.S.C. § 46(d); 2d Cir.
IOP E(b); United States v. Desimone, 140 F.3d 457, 458–59 (2d Cir. 1998).
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York, NY, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Appellants Football
Association Premier League Ltd., et al.; Max W. Berger and
John C. Browne, Bernstein Litowitz Berger &
Grossmann LLP, New York, NY, on the brief, for
Plaintiffs-Appellants Football Association Premier League
Ltd., Bourne Co., Murbo Music Publishing, Inc., Cherry Lane
Music Publishing Co., Inc., X-Ray Dog Music, Inc., and
Fédération Française de Tennis; Louis M. Solomon and
Hal S. Shaftel, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP,
New York, NY, on the brief, for Plaintiff-Appellant Football
Association Premier League Ltd.; Jacqueline C.
Charlesworth and Cindy P. Abramson, Morrison &
Foerster, New York, NY, and David S. Stellings and
Annika K. Martin, Lieff Cabraser Heimann &
Bernstein, LLP, New York, NY, on the brief, for Plaintiff-
Appellant Stage Three Music (US), Inc., and Plaintiffs-
Appellants National Music Publishers’ Association, Rodgers
& Hammerstein Organization, Edward B. Marks Music Co.,
Freddy Bienstock Music Co. d/b/a Bienstock Publishing Co.,
and Alley Music Corporation; Daniel Girard and Christina
Connolly Sharp, Girard Gibbs LLP, San Francisco,
CA, David Garrison, Barrett Johnston & Parsley,
Nashville, TN, and Kevin Doherty, Burr & Forman
LLP, Nashville, TN, on the brief, for Plaintiff-Appellant Cal
IV Entertainment LLC; Christopher Lovell and
Christopher M. McGrath, Lovell Stewart Halebian
LLP, New York, NY, Jeffrey L. Graubart, Pasadena,
CA, and Steve D’Onofrio, Washington, DC, for
Plaintiffs The Music Force Media Group LLC, The Music
Force, LLC, and Sin-Drome Records, Ltd.
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NDREW H. SCHAPIRO, Mayer Brown LLP, New York, NY
(A. John P. Mancini and Brian M. Willen, Mayer Brown
LLP, New York, NY; David H. Kramer, Michael H.
Rubin, and Bart E. Volkmer, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich
& Rosati, Palo Alto, CA, on the brief), for Defendants-
Appellees.
Clifford M. Sloan (Christopher G. Clark and Mary E.
Rasenberger, on the brief), Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher
& Flom LLP, New York, NY, and Washington, DC, for
amici curiae Advance Publications, Inc., Association of
American Publishers, Association of American
University Presses, The Associated Press, The Center
for the Rule of Law, Gannett Co., Inc., ICBC Broadcast
Holdings, Inc., Institute for Policy Innovation, The
