[Infowarrior] - A new copyright battlefield: Veoh Networks

Wed Feb 21 08:48:43 EST 2007

A new copyright battlefield: Veoh Networks

By Greg Sandoval

http://news.com.com/A+new+copyright+battlefield+Veoh+Networks/2100-1026_3-61
60860.html

Story last modified Wed Feb 21 05:30:23 PST 2007

One of the last places you might expect to find copyright violations is on a
Web site backed by Time Warner and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

Nonetheless, Veoh Networks CEO Dmitry Shapiro acknowledges that only a week
after the company's official debut, Veoh.com is host to a wide range of
unauthorized and full-length copies of popular programs. But Shapiro says
it's not his upstart video company's fault: Blame the people who are posting
the material.

"We have a policy that specifically states that when we see copyright
material posted, we take it down," Shapiro said. "This problem is the
democratization of publishing. Anyone can now post a video to the Internet.
Sometimes the material belongs to someone else. We take this very
seriously."

Veoh has raised about $12 million from investors such as Eisner and Time
Warner. The company wants to be more than just another YouTube. Executives
have their sights on distributing long-format video for networks and media
companies, and privately held Veoh currently claims its peer-to-peer
technology enables content creators to transmit higher quality video much
more efficiently.

The problem, of course, is dealing with the content piracy that nearly every
video-sharing and peer-to-peer company has faced. While executives at these
companies have argued they discourage copyright violations, there's little
question that's what their customers are often trying to accomplish. The law
requires a company to remove copyright-infringing videos once notified by a
copyright holder, but it doesn't have to pre-screen material or actively
police the site.

Veoh's ambitious plan to distribute long-format videos adds another wrinkle
to the fight between technology companies and content owners. Even YouTube,
which has come under fire from a range of content owners because of
copyright issues, tries to prevent people from uploading full-length films
and TV shows by limiting clips to 10 minutes. Now content owners have to
worry about their entire programs getting posted.

"I can't believe Hollywood is going to let (Veoh) get away with this," said
Josh Martin, an analyst at the research firm Yankee Group. "The environment
is different now. The media companies know that it's wrong now and I can't
imagine that they are going to sit still about entire episodes being posted.
You have to remember that YouTube (which gained early notoriety from
postings of copyrighted material) was at the right place at the right time
and I don't see that happening again."

A review of Veoh found an extensive list of professionally made shows,
including an hour-long animated feature produced by Disney called Cinderella
III: A Twist in Time (the video was removed over the weekend), and a
two-hour long video of a soccer match between England and Spain. Also on
Veoh, users need only turn off a "family filter" to find a wide assortment
of adult material.

The appearance of unauthorized videos at Veoh is surprising to some analysts
because the San Diego company has strong ties to the entertainment sector.
Another thing that has industry insiders scratching their heads is why Veoh
would attempt a strategy that looks like YouTube on steroids at a time when
YouTube continues to butt heads with media powerhouses over copyright
issues.

Two weeks ago, entertainment conglomerate Viacom demanded that YouTube
remove 100,000 videos from the site that featured material from its TV shows
and films. Viacom announced on Tuesday that it has signed a licensing deal
with Joost, the startup backed by the founders of Skype and Kazaa, which
promises to prevent infringement of intellectual property. Earlier this
month, NBC's new CEO, Jeff Zucker, also blasted YouTube for failing to
deliver a promised technology that would help screen the site for copyright
content.

YouTube is hardly the only Internet video company running into copyright
controversy. Sony's video-sharing offering, Grouper, and Bolt.com have been
accused of violating copyrights. TVU Networks, a peer-to-peer startup that
allows users to stream TV shows to the Web, has also run afoul of some large
media companies in recent months: some have sent the TVU "take-down"
notices, including Major League Baseball and HBO, demanding that the company
remove their content.

One reason Hollywood and big media companies have yet to react to the
copyright infringement at Veoh may be because the site has yet to draw much
attention. Having officially launched only a week ago, the site is just now
building an audience.

Asked about the full-length episodes at Veoh, Jeremy Zweig, a spokesman at
Viacom, said the company has concentrated on fighting the copyright battle
at places where the most violations occur--YouTube, MySpace and Google
Video.

"We allocate our resources based on where we think the most harm is being
done," Zweig said. "We haven't focused on Veoh at this point."

The privately held Veoh is planning to use peer-to-peer technology to
distribute DVD-quality video and allow it to be posted to other Web sites,
including YouTube's. The site currently requires a software download, but
company officials say its technology enables content creators to distribute
their video much more efficiently than other methods. The company is also
offering a syndication service that will distribute video across the Web and
can also embed ads.

Shapiro insists that the copyright material found on the site is only
temporary.

"We're all inventing a new medium," Shapiro said. "When you start off you
have some issues, but all of us in this industry are working to solve those
issues."