As online video content becomes even more accessible from both the professional and the amateur ends of the spectrum, copyright issues will continue to plague video providers and creatives.
Companies that provide access to video like Google or the wildly popular YouTube have been able to skirt the issue a bit, placing the bulk of responsibility on plaintiffs.
As one Indian blogger has pointed out, several video uploads from India’s version of Hollywood, Bollywood, have made their way on to Google Video without the proper permission.
After contacting Google about the problem, the blogger received a response instructing him to try and contact the uploader and to fill out a removal request form, if the owner of the content.
Venkatesh was quick to point out that A) making contact with the uploader was next to impossible, and that B) a removal request form may be too slow in addressing the problem before the content ended up in file-sharing hands.
Next-generation Internet blogger Om Malik speculates that the issue is one with some staying power.
“I am not sure if this is a problem that is going to go away. Online video companies will have to figure out a policing mechanism after all if CSI shows start showing up on Google video (not the store), Google’s partners at Viacom are not going to be too thrilled. Similarly SNL videos now for sale on iTunes store, available for free are going to become a headache of sorts for folks at You Tube.”
