Google Video vs. Landmark Forum, and More Lawsuits to Come

Let the lawsuits begin. YouTube's copyrighted material may present a legal risk to new owner Google, but it's the mega-site's own video service that's currently in hot water. According to reports, Google Video is facing at least one copyright infringement lawsuit – filed in France -- that's seeking $193,000 in damages for a documentary video that appeared on the site.

In a statement, Google spokesman Ricardo Reyes dismissed the action. "This is a small lawsuit over a single video that appeared briefly," he said. "We have procedures in place that allow copyright owners to tell us if their content is placed on Google Video without authorization. When we receive appropriate notice, we quickly remove the content." No further information was given about the suit.

But another subpoena against Google, probably unrelated, has also come to light recently, revealing just how vulnerable the video sites are to lawsuits, whether merited or not. After a French documentary called Voyage Au Pays Des Nouveaux Gourous ("Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus"), a muckraking investigation into the activities of self-help outfit Landmark Forum, showed up on websites such as Google Video and YouTube, the organization sent out threatening cease-and-desist letters claiming the documentary infringed on its own U.S. copyrights and demanding the identity of those who uploaded it.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (or EFF) has stepped in on Google's behalf, claiming that the Forum's copyright claims are bogus -- if anybody's copyright is being violated, it's the French producers of the film, not the Forum. (This fact seems to indicate the lawsuit for $193,000 could be said producers, but an EFF spokesperson told Reuters she was unaware of any connection between it and the Landmark subpoena.)

Either way, it looks like Google better have a whole lot of lawyers on hand.

For more on the history of the Landmark lawsuit, the EFF has a detailed page on its website devoted to the case, along with links to Landmark's letter to Google, its Digital Millennium Copyright Act subpoena as well as this link to the offending anti-Landmark report, with subtitles, available on the Cult Awareness and Information Centre website.