BusinessWeek is reporting that YouTube is facing its first copyright lawsuit. Surprisingly, it comes from a person who covered the Los Angeles riots fourteen years ago rather than the MPAA or RIAA:

Whose Video Is It, Anyway?

NO CLEAR BOUNDARIES. Tur’s lawsuit shows the fine line that YouTube is walking as it attempts to build its business model. Tur is suing because his videos of the riot and other events were uploaded without his permission. Although lawyers agree that YouTube should be protected by copyright law as long as it responds to content owners’ requests to take down their works, it entered uncharted territory when it recently began adding ads next to search results.

The law prohibits a site from benefiting financially from infringement, but the company argues that it’s protected since it doesn’t sell ads against individual videos. Still, the courts haven’t set clear boundaries. “There has to be some way to make money with advertising that doesn’t deprive you of the safe harbor. But where that line is, no one really knows,” says Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

It’s a great article outlining the copyright challenges faced by video hosting sites like YouTube and copyright holders who’s content ends up on video sites - often without their permission.

And who knew you could make $30,000 dropping Mentos in Diet Coke?

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