TV Networks, Online Video Services Sign Copyright Pact

The parent companies of the four largest US broadcast networks plus cable content giant Viacom joined with MySpace, Microsoft, and online video providers Veoh and Dailymotion in signing a standards and practices document they hope will become the "Television Code" of online copyright protection.

The document calls upon all services for user-generated content (UGC) to implement appropriate mechanisms to identify and filter out unlicensed content from upload streams, by the end of this year - which is only ten weeks away.

"We recognize that no system for deterring infringement is or will be perfect," reads the preamble for "Copyright Principles for UGC Services." "But, given the development of new content identification and filtering technologies, we are united in the belief that the Principles set out below, taken as a whole, strike a balance that, on a going-forward basis, will result in a more robust, content-rich online experience for all."

The document calls for content companies to provide UGC Services - presumably including Hulu, which pact signers Fox and NBC Universal will jointly run - with reference data (most likely hash codes) that will aid automatic systems in identifying copyrighted content once it's uploaded. But it presumes that copyright holders, obviously including themselves, will be able to provide hash codes or other identifying marks for everything they don't want disseminated without license - obviously a monumental task with which these rights holders are charging themselves.

The document also states that UGC services, once they have identified uploaded content that matches the reference data supplied by copyright holders, should then be able to contact those copyright holders and inquire what to do with the submission. In the absence of a response, a service may then presume the submission should be cancelled.

But in stating this, the "Copyright Principles" document presumes a seemingly permanent and consistent channel of communication should exist between the copyright holders and the UGC services. Such a channel is easy to maintain if, in the case of Hulu and MySpace, you happen to be owned by a copyright older. But YouTube, owned by Google, might face a more daunting challenge if it ever decided to sign onto these principles.

The document appears to go further, with a paragraph that is either suggesting that UGC services and content holders work together to police the entire World-Wide Web, or that may be a little vague with regard to how the rest of the Internet actually works.

"UGC Services and Copyright Owners should work together to identify sites that are clearly dedicated to, and predominantly used for, the dissemination of infringing content or the facilitation of such dissemination," the Principles document states, without going into detail regarding the definition of "sites" in this context. "Upon determination by a UGC Service that a site is so dedicated and used, the UGC Service should remove or block the links to such sites. If the UGC Service is able to identify specific links that solely direct users to particular non-infringing content on such sites, the UGC Service may allow those links while blocking all other links."

Something else the document brings up but fails to define is "fair use."

"When sending notices and making claims of infringement, Copyright Owners should accommodate fair use," the Principles state, in a sentence that constitutes the entire section on the matter. In three other points, the term is raised briefly, suggesting that agents in the video dissemination process should be "accommodating fair use," though again without a clear reference to whether this is the legal or common definition.

Reports yesterday stated the charter signers of the document had forged a new copyright alliance. This is actually inaccurate, as the Copyright Alliance pre-existed. Some of its members signed the pact; other signers are from outside the Alliance's purview.

However, the Alliance's Executive Director, Patrick Ross, did issue this comment: "It is exciting to witness the creative community reaching consensus with the tech community on reasonable rules of the road for online media. These are common-sense principles that recognize the important roles of both industries in respecting and protecting the interests of copyright holders while also acknowledging the value of true user-generated works and respecting fair use. It is also proof of the extensive, ongoing efforts of the broad creative community to aggressively satisfy consumer demand in the digital marketplace."