YouTube on Wednesday announced that it has reached a settlement with a group of music publishers in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in 2007.
According to the Google-owned video-sharing site, the U.S. National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), its subsidiary Harry Fox Agency (HFA) and music publishers affiliated with HFA will be able to license the musical compositions they represent for use by the YouTube community and receive royalties from YouTube for musical works in videos posted on the site.
However, details of the agreement were not disclosed. In 2007, the music publishers joined the class action suit filed against Google by the U.S. Football Association Premier League among others, accusing YouTube of encouraging users to upload pirated video clips of music videos, films and TV shows.
"With today's deal and advances in Content ID technology, we're continuing our recognition of songwriters for their artistic contribution by supporting them with an additional revenue stream to help their future creative pursuits," said YouTube in its official blog.
Content ID, introduced in last December, is a set of audio and video matching tools that help identify whether the compositions appear in an original sound recording or in a cover version use information provided to YouTube by the publishers.
Before YouTube implemented a filtering system and other content protections, users commonly uploaded unauthorized clips of TV shows and movies. The music class suit was reviewed by the court along with the suit filed by Viacom, parent company of Paramount Pictures and MTV. In March 2007, the company also accused Google of encouraging its users to commit copyright infringement.
Last June, a U.S. court granted summary judgment for Google, ruling that "YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement."
The ruling means online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online.