YouTube to meet Japan media on copyright protest

20 Dec 2006

Executives of YouTube.com are to meet a group of Japanese media firms that complained to the video sharing Internet site over copyright infringement, the Japanese organisation said.

YouTube is to send a delegation to Japan in response to a letter from the Tokyo-based Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) complaining that it allowed users to post and view copyrighted TV shows, movie clips and music videos, the group said in a statement late on Tuesday.

In the reply, signed by YouTube Chief Executive Chad Hurley and Chief Technical Officer Steve Chen, YouTube acknowledged that it needed to post a notice in Japanese on its website telling users not to upload copyrighted content.

YouTube, owned by Google Inc., removed about 30,000 video files from its website after receiving a demand in October from the Japanese media group and 22 other firms including public broadcaster NHK, major film studios, and web rivals such as Yahoo Japan Corp.

The files had been posted without the permission of copyright holders, the group said.

The date of the meeting between YouTube executives and the Japanese group has yet to be decided.

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