LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that Google is close to implementing a filtering system for YouTube that would prevent copyright infringement occurring.
Schmidt made the comments at the National Association of Broadcasters conference during a one-on-one interview with John Seigenthaler, a former reporter with NBC’s Nightly News.
The new system, which Schmidt called Claim Your Content, will automatically identify copyright material so that it can be removed, Schmidt said.
“We are very close to turning this on,” Schmidt said, as reported by CNet.
The filtering system was supposed to have launched last year at YouTube, which Google acquired for $1.6 billion in October 2006. Delays in rolling it out have angered movie and television executives. Executives at NBC and Viacom have accused Google of dragging its feet on preventing YouTube users from uploading clips from hit shows and movies.
Network executives accused Google of stalling so YouTube could reap the big traffic that professionally-created shows generate. Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google last month and accused Google of massive intentional copyright infringement.
“Ah Viacom,” Schmidt said. “You’re either doing business with them or being sued by them…we chose the former, but ended up the latter.”
