[Zusha Elinson]
An important Internet law case was about to be as abandoned (free reg. req.) as a baby left on a foreclosed home’s doorstep – but no longer!
Joe Mullin reports today that Winston & Strawn’s Michael Elkin will in fact be handling the appeal for Veoh against Universal Music Group in a seminal online copyright case. The video-sharing site was teetering on bankruptcy and then sold its assets – and there was a real concern that the remaining corporate shell of Veoh didn’t care to defend itself or didn’t have the money.
The case is kind of a big deal. Veoh beat UMG’s copyright infringement accusations that were based on the label’s music videos being uploaded by Veoh users. The decision helped define just how much protection sites like Veoh – and YouTube – have under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. In fact, YouTube cites the case numerous times in its defense against a massive infringement lawsuit that was brought by Viacom.
This week, Elkin told Mullin that funding had been found to continue fighting the case.
Mullin writes:
On Thursday, Elkin confirmed to Corporate Counsel that he will represent the Veoh side on appeal, even though Veoh has ceased to exist as an operating company. Elkin said he is being paid to continue handling the case, which he says has consumed him for the past three years, but declined to comment on who is paying him. He said he and his team are "working mightily" to prepare their reply brief, which is due May 20.
Give me your best guess about who’s paying for the case.
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