On June 23, Google and its YouTube subsidiary responded to a complaint by Athos Overseas Ltd., which had asserted claims of copyright infringement, violation of the Sherman Act, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, and a section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The basis for Google and YouTube’s request to dismiss Athos’ complaint was that the time elapsed since the first requests by Athos have exceeded the four year statute of limitations under the Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices statute, not to mention the three-year period under The Copyright Act.
About the complaint
Athos is a business entity owned by Carlos Vasallo, who, according to the complaint, “owns the world’s largest collection of Mexican and Latin American movies (…), several movie channels and FCC licenses (…), and the most watched TV station in Cuba.”
Vasallo’s collection numbers in the thousands of titles, and on different occasions, multiple suitors offered hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the collection.
Because Vasallo media assets were uploaded and distributed via YouTube without compensation, Athos contacted YouTube in about 2015 to request take-down. Â Instead, the complaint alleges that a YouTube executive suggested that Vasallo allow piracy to continue; attracting traffic and ad revenue which the YouTube executive offered to share with Vasallo. Â The executive also suggested a partnership in which YouTube would publish and sell Vasallo’s movies and again, split the proceeds.
The complaint also alleges that the agreement would release YouTube from any claims of piracy and indicated that YouTube would not use its Content ID system to detect copyright infringement.
Futher details
It is case number 1:21-cv-21698-DPG under the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida: Athos Overseas, Ltd. Plaintiff vs. YouTube, Inc, YouTube, LLC and Google, LLC.
Read a summary and the original Complaint, via Law.com
