ABSTRACT*: Dailymotion, a French video-sharing website, recently received bad news on the judicial front. This summer, it was sentenced by a Paris court to pay €23,001 ($33,400) in damages for the copyright infringement of the movie “Joyeux Noël”, an unauthorized copy of which had been made available on the website by an internet user. [1] [2] The court asserted that the hosting provider, because it had enabled and thrived on mass piracy, was under a general obligation to implement technical means to prevent unlawful activities. This controversial decision is worrying as it greatly expands the duties of Dailymotion with regards to piracy. Dailymotion has appealed the decision but face more judicial woes. It has also been sued for copyright infringement by a French comedian and could face another lawsuit from a French television broadcaster. Dailymotion would find little comfort in the fact that other video-sharing websites have not fared better in France. Internet giants Google, YouTube and MySpace also face copyright lawsuits. The “Joyeux Noël” case is symptomatic of the resolve of content producers in holding websites accountable for internet piracy. It also illustrates the challenges faced by the courts in defining the obligations of websites with regards to copyright infringement. In all, Dailymotion can expect protracted legal battles with users of the media industry over copyright issues.
Yet, things might not be as grim as they appear. Every cloud has a silver lining. Looking through the prism of judicial activity gives an incomplete and distorted picture of Dailymotion’s relationship with the media industry. Dailymotion has been taking a series of measures to accommodate rightholders, both before and since the “Joyeux Noël” decision. It has been implementing filtering technology to prevent piracy and has actively been seeking partnerships with content producers. This strategy has shown promising results. Dailymotion has entered revenue-sharing deals with many media companies to broadcast their content. It has also managed to position itself as a global champion for copyright.
These proactive measures towards copyright compliance and the links built with many content producers should help Dailymotion maintain the number of future copyright lawsuits at a level that would not jeopardize its survival. Such optimistic outlook might partly explain why, despite ongoing litigations, the financial backers of Dailymotion have been willing to invest a further €25 million to help the Paris-based start-up grow and compete on the global stage.

[1] Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, 3ème chambre, 2ème section, 13/07/2007. Available at Juriscom.net, also available at Legalis.net. COMMENTS : French ruling against video-sharing platform DailyMotion. EDRI-gram - Number 5.14, 18/07/2007 ; Lilian EDWARDS, Web 2.0 liability hits Europe - delete those borrowed cartoons fast, folks…Pangloss, 31/10/2007 ; IRIS, Affaire DailyMotion: le TGI de Paris écrit la LCEN2.0. IRIS , also available in Droit NTIC, 20/07/2007 ; D.R. (La Gazette du Net), DailyMotion qualifié d'hébergeur et reconnu responsable de la mise en ligne d'une vidéo. Juriscom.net, 16/07/2007; Dailymotion, prestataire technique responsable. Legalis.net, 18/07/2007 ; Isabelle RENARD , Les acteurs du Web 2.0 vont-ils sortir vainqueurs de la bataille judiciaire? Journal du Net, 07/09/2007 ; Julie RUELLE, The Dailymotion case: a tough decision for Internet hosting providers? Bird & Bird, 24/10/2007 ; Brad SPITZ, DailyMotion: a ''hosting provider'' liable for copyright infringement. Juriscom.net, 18/07/2007.
[2] Hélène Puel, DailyMotion, condamné pour contrefaçon, va filtrer les vidéos des internautes. 01net., 16/07/2007; Guillaume Champeau, DailyMotion condamné pour violation de droits d'auteurs. Ratiatum.com, 16/07/2007; Dailymotion condamné pour avoir hébergé le film "Joyeux Noël". ZDNet France, 16/07/2007; Clarisse Fabre, Les sites hébergeurs dans le collimateur. Le Monde, 24/07/2007; Karine Solovieff, Sur Dailymotion, le filtrage s'applique aussi aux chansons. 01net., 01/08/2007. MEDIA IN ENGLISH: Cade Metz, French court slaps poor man's YouTube. The Register, 26/07/2007.

[3] Loi n°2004-575 du 21 juin 2004 pour la confiance dans l'économie numérique, available Legifrance

[4] Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market ('Directive on electronic commerce'); available Eur-lex (pdf version)
[5] Personal translation of Article 6-I-2 LCEN. PROVISION IN FRENCH : « Les personnes physiques ou morales qui assurent, même à titre gratuit, pour mise à disposition du public par des services de communication au public en ligne, le stockage de signaux, d'écrits, d'images, de sons ou de messages de toute nature fournis par des destinataires de ces services ne peuvent pas voir leur responsabilité civile engagée du fait des activités ou des informations stockées à la demande d'un destinataire de ces services si elles n'avaient pas effectivement connaissance de leur caractère illicite ou de faits et circonstances faisant apparaître ce caractère ou si, dès le moment où elles en ont eu cette connaissance, elles ont agi promptement pour retirer ces données ou en rendre l'accès impossible. » FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATION see Julie Ruelle, The Dailymotion case: a tough decision for Internet hosting providers? Bird & Bird, 24/10/2007: hosting providers “may not be held civilly liable for the activities or information stored at the request of a recipient of these services if they are effectively unaware of the illegal nature thereof or of the facts and circumstances revealing this illegality or if, as soon as they become aware of them, they have acted promptly to remove these data or make access to them impossible”.
[6] Article 6-I-7 LCEN : «Les personnes mentionnées aux 1 et 2 ne sont pas soumises à une obligation générale de surveiller les informations qu'elles transmettent ou stockent, ni à une obligation générale de rechercher des faits ou des circonstances révélant des activités illicites..»
[7] Ariane Beky, Joyeux Noël : Dailymotion fait appel. NetEco.com, 02/08/2007.
[8] Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, Ordonnance de référé, 22/06/2007 Legalis.net. COMMENTS see: Nicolas JONDET, “French prankster wins copyright battle against MySpace”. French-law.net, 19/11/2007; Jeanne MEHAUD, “Myspace considered as a publisher by a French tribunal and found liable for copyright infringement by its users”. Bird & Bird, 23/10/2007 ; Brad SPITZ, “‘The Buttock’ sues MySpace for copyright infringement”. Juriscom.net, 11/07/2007.
[9] Cour d’Appel de Paris, 7 juin 2006 available Legalis.net.
[10] The law applicable to the “Lucky Comics” case was the 1986 French “Law on the Freedom of Communication”, modified in 2000 and later abrogated by the LCEN. Loi n°86-1067 du 30/09/1986 relative à la liberté de communication, dite «Loi Léotard », modifiée par la Loi n°2000-719 du 01/08/2000.
[11] Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, 16 fevrier 2005 available Legalis.net.
[12] The MotionMaker program will be discussed further in Part 3.4 below.
[13] Conditions particulières MotionMaker, Article 3.
[14] Conditions particulières MotionMaker, Article 3: «En effet et suivant validation, DailyMotion en devient éditeur et non plus simplement hébergeur». The official translation in English uses the term “editor” to translate “éditeur”. We believe that, given the context, the term “publisher” is more appropriate.
[15] These deals, as well as other licensing deals between Dailymotion and media corporations, will be discussed in Part 3.2, below.
[16] PRESS RELEASE : Google assignée par Flach Film pour contrefaçon. Communiqué Flach Film, 23/11/2006 ALSO AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH http://www.flachfilm.com/index.php?page=articles&id=540. MEDIA: Hélène Puel, Google Video poursuivi pour parasitisme et contrefaçon. 01net., 24/11/2006; Flach Film assigne Google pour contrefaçon et parasitisme. LeMondeInformatique.fr, 24/11/2006; Marc Rees, Google Video France attaqué pour contrefaçon et parasitisme. PCimpact.com, 24/11/2006; Jérôme G., Flach Film vs Google: le cinéma français se serre les coudes. Generation-NT.com, 01/12/2006.
[17] Anne Salomon, Jean-Yves Lafesse en guerre contre les pirates. Le Figaro, 15/06/2007; Cédric Ledauphin, Jean-Yves Lafesse attaque les services de partage de vidéos. Ratiatum.com, 18/06/2007; Alexandre Laurent, Jean-Yves Lafesse attaque YouTube et Dailymotion. Neteco.com, 18/06/2007; Jean-Yves Lafesse attaque des sites d'hébergement de vidéos sur Internet. Le Monde, 18/06/2007.
[18] See notably, Nicolas JONDET, French prankster wins copyright battle against MySpace. French-law.net, 19/11/2007
[19] Emmanuel Berretta, TF1 va attaquer Dailymotion et YouTube. Le Point.fr, 13/12/2007; Julie de Meslon, TF1 veut traîner Dailymotion et YouTube en justice. 01net., 14/12/2007; TF1 compte attaquer YouTube et Dailymotion. Ratiatum.com, 14/12/2007; Dan Israel, TF1 attaque Dailymotion. Mais quand? Arrêt sur Images, 14/12/2007 (Registration required); Baptiste Peyron (Etudiant CFJ), Droits de diffusion: Dailymotion attaqué par TF1? Rue89.com, 15/12/2007; Jérôme Bouteiller, Dailymotion attend toujours la convocation de TF1. Neteco.com, 17/12/2007. IN ENGLISH: David Hayhurst, TF1 may sue Dailymotion, YouTube. Variety.com, 14/12/2007.
[20] IRIS, note 1.
[21] Edwards, note 1.
[22] Edwards, note 1.
[23] Article 1 of the Terms and Conditions.
[24] For more on the “MotionMakers” program see part 2.2.1 above and 3.4 below.
[25] PRESS RELEASES : Dailymotion choisit la solution de fingerprinting d'Audible Magic pour détecter les vidéos protégées par des droits. Communiqué Dailymotion, 13/07/2007. IN ENGLISH: Dailymotion Selects Audible Magic's Fingerprinting Solution for Detecting Copyrighted Video. Dailymotion, 10/05/2007.
[26] PRESS RELEASE : Dailymotion renforce son dispositif de détection des vidéos protégées avec la technologie « Signature » de l'INA. Communiqué Dailymotion, 08/10/2007. MEDIA : Philippe Crouzillacq, Dailymotion adopte la technologie de l'Ina pour lutter contre le piratage. 01net., 08/10/2007; Estelle Dumout, Après Canal Plus, Dailymotion utilise la technologie de protection de l'INA pour filtrer les contenus. ZDNet France, 08/10/2007; Dailymotion reconnaîtra le watermarking de l'INA. Ratiatum.com, 08/10/2007; Ariane Beky, Dailymotion adopte le marquage vidéo conçu par l'Ina. Neteco.com, 08/10/2007.
[27] Wikipedia: Digital video fingerprinting.
[28] “Technically, the fingerprints are computed from the luminance of certain areas of the images and from the motion information in the sequence.” In “Ina-Signature: protect and manage your contents” presentation by the Ina (in English).
[29] “Ina-Signature: protect and manage your contents” presentation by the Ina (in English); Estelle Dumout, Après Canal Plus, Dailymotion utilise la technologie de protection de l'INA pour filtrer les contenus. ZDNet France, 08/10/2007.
[30] PRESS RELEASES : Mise en place d’Audible Magic et d’Audio Remix. Le blog Dailymotion, 25/07/2007. IN ENGLISH: Launch of Audible Magic and Audio Remix. The Dailymotion Blog, 27/07/2007. MEDIA: Karine Solovieff, Sur Dailymotion, le filtrage s'applique aussi aux chansons. 01net., 01/08/2007.
[31] Users currently have the choice between 50 songs provided by Jamendo, a platform for free music where artists make their work available under Creative Commons licenses. Dailymotion has promised to increase the number of songs available to swap.
[32] Estelle Dumout, Après Canal Plus, Dailymotion utilise la technologie de protection de l'INA pour filtrer les contenus. ZDNet France, 08/10/2007.
[33] To know INA.
[34] PRESS RELEASE : Accord Dailymotion et CANAL+ pour une meilleure protection de ses contenus. Communiqué Dailymotion, 18/10/2007
[35] Julie de Meslon, Dailymotion protège les contenus de Canal+. 01net., 18/10/2007.
[36] Karine Solovieff, Canal+ en appelle à l'INA pour protéger son catalogue. 01net., 23/07/2007.
[37] Estelle Dumout, Après Canal Plus, Dailymotion utilise la technologie de protection de l'INA pour filtrer les contenus. ZDNet France, 08/10/2007.
[38] A one year “experimental agreement”, signed in December 2006, where the SPPF acts directly with Dailymotion on behalf of all its users. PRESS RELEASE: Dailymotion et les producteurs indépendants concluent un accord stratégique pour l'utilisation de leurs clips. Communiqué Dailymotion, 21/12/2006. MEDIA: Arnaud Devillard, Les producteurs indépendants partagent leurs clips sur Dailymotion. 01net., 21/12/2006.
[39] Justice page Video clip : “D.A.N.C.E.” by Justice
[40] PRESS RELEASE : Warner Music et Dailymotion signent un partenariat stratégique concernant la distribution de vidéos avec des revenus. Communiqué Dailymotion, 22/01/2007. MEDIA: Hélène Puel, Les clips de Warner Music bientôt sur Dailymotion. 01net., 22/01/2007.
[41] Accord Dailymotion-Universal sur la diffusion de contenus. LCI.fr, 06/03/2007; Guillaume Champeau, DailyMotion signe un accord avec Universal Music. Ratiatum.com, 07/03/2007.
[42] PRESS RELEASE: Turner Broadcasting Europe et Dailymotion signent un accord pour diffuser CNN, Adult Swim, et Nuts. Communiqué Dailymotion, 15/10/2007 MEDIA: IN ENGLISH : Turner Broadcasting Europe and Dailymotion Announce Agreement to Feature CNN, Adult Swim and Nuts Programming. PRweb.com, 15/10/2007. IN FRENCH: Dailymotion travaille son image auprès des ayants droit. ZDNet France, 16/10/2007.
[43] The framework agreement sets out the terms and conditions under which individual contracts between Dailymotion and the 110 users of the USPA can be reached, the most important being that they have to include revenue sharing provisions. PRESS RELEASE : Accord Dailymotion / USPA : de nouveaux programmes de télévision bientôt disponibles sur Dailymotion. Communiqué Dailymotion, 29/10/2007. MEDIA : Les producteurs audiovisuels prêts à faire confiance à Dailymotion. ZDNet France, 29/10/2007; "Les vidéos auront une empreinte sur Dailymotion", propos recueillis par Guillaume Fraissard. Le Monde, 29/10/2007; Jérôme Bouteiller, V.O.D. : Du nouveau chez DailyMotion et Glowria. Neteco.com, 30/10/2007.
[44] Incidently, two users of the USPA (Zadig Productions and Flach Film) have launched copyright lawsuits against Google video: See Part 2.3.2 above.
[45] See part 3.5 below.
[46] Universal Music Group on YouTube; Warner Music Group on YouTube.
[47] Un nouveau programme pour les professionnels. Blog Dailymotion, 29/11/2007. IN ENGLISH: New program for professionals. Blog Dailymotion, 30/11/2007.
[48] Introduction to Official Content, Dailymotion website

[49] http://www.dailymotion.com/users/official/1
[50] “Official User” page of INA. Watch for instance a short clip retracing the last 60 years of the Cannes Film festival
[51] “Official User” page of “Peep Show”
[52] “Official User” page of “Shameless”
[53] “Official User” page of “Skins”

[54] PRESS RELEASE: Internet and media industry leaders unveil principles to foster online innovation while protecting copyrights. UGC Principles, 18/10/2007. MEDIA: Caroline McCarthy, Studios unveil their copyright protection guidelines. CNET News, 18/10/2007; Merissa Marr & Kevin J. Delaney, Disney, Microsoft lead copyright pact. The Wall Street Journal, 19/10/2007; Bill Rosenblatt, Video content owners and user generated content sites agree on filtering principles. DRMwatch.com, 25/10/2007.
[55] Principles for User Generated Content Services
[56] Sherwin Siy (Public Knowledge), Unprincipled "Principles" for User Generated Content. PublicKnowledge.org, 18/10/2007.
[57] Julie Hilden, The new guidelines for user-generated content services such as MySpace: why some will predictably inhibit “fair use.” Findlaw.com, 12/11/2007.
[58] EDRI-gram, Some Internet and media companies push for principles on user content. EDRI-gram - Number 5.20, 24/10/2007.
[59] Watch for instance: "In-sit-U" by Joseph Heissat & Benoit Buirtsch (Music by DJ Lynso).
[60] "Les vidéos auront une empreinte sur Dailymotion", propos recueillis par Guillaume Fraissard. Le Monde, 29/10/2007.
[61] PRESS RELEASES: La première « Séance Dailymotion » au cinéma. Communiqué Dailymotion, 31/10/2007; Le meilleur des MotionMakers à la « Séance Dailymotion » du Cinéma des Cinéastes. Communiqué Dailymotion, 26/11/2007 MEDIA: Dailymotion travaille son image auprès des ayants droit. ZDNet France, 16/10/2007; DailyMotion s'invite au Cinéma des Cinéastes. Ratiatum.com, 02/11/2007. Watch the opening title of “La séance Dailymotion”

[62] The consortium consisted of AGF Private Equity, Advent Venture Partners, CIC Capital Privé, Atlas Venture, Partech International. PRESS RELEASE : Dailymotion conclut une deuxième levée de fonds de 25 millions d'euros. Communiqué Dailymotion, 31/08/2007. MEDIA: Guillaume Deleurence, DailyMotion remplit son porte-monnaie. 01net., 31/08/2007. IN ENGLISH: Nick Gonzalez, DailyMotion raises $34 million; another copyright infringing success story. Techcrunch.com, 30/08/2007; Richard Wray, 'French YouTube' raises $34m in funding. The Guardian, 03/09/2007.
[63] TechCrunch, CrunchBase: Dailymotion.
[64] Alexa, Ranking of the most popular sites, checked 14/11/2007.
[65] http://www.metacafe.com/
[66] http://blip.tv/
[67] http://www.megavideo.com/
[68] For a comparative analysis of the different actors in the ever-increasing field of video sharing read: Mark Hendrickson, Happy 1st anniversary YouTube and Google; now move over a bit. TechCrunch, 10/10/2007.
[69] Ibid.
[70] See part 2.3.2 above.
[71] Dailymotion devient espagnol ! Dailymotion, 06/11/2007.
[72] PRESS RELEASE: Dailymotion launches largest independent online video entertainment site in the US. Dailymotion, 10/07/2007.
[73] Catherine Mullen (MTV UK), Joy Marcus (Time Warner), Werner Brell (MTV Networks), Michelle Goff, Danny Passman (MTV Networks).
[74] Anne Broache & Greg Sandoval, Viacom sues Google over YouTube clips. CNET News.com, 13/03/2007; Michael Geist, The Viacom - YouTube lawsuit. MichaelGeist.ca, 13/03/2007.
[75] Warner Music Group, YouTube user channel; PRESS RELEASE: Warner Music Group and YouTube announce landmark video distribution and revenue partnership. YouTube, 18/09/2006.
[76] Sony BMG, YouTube user channel. PRESS RELEASE: Sony BMG Music entertainment signs content license agreement with YouTube. YouTube, 09/10/2006.
[77] Universal Music, YouTube user channel. PRESS RELEASE: Universal Music Group and YouTube forge strategic partnership. YouTube, 09/10/2006.
[78] EMI, YouTube user channel PRESS RELEASE: EMI Music, Google and YouTube strike milestone partnership. YouTube, 31/05/2007.
[79] CBS, YouTube user channel. PRESS RELEASE: CBS and YouTube strike strategic content and advertising partnership. YouTube, 09/10/2006.
[80] BBC Worldwide, YouTube user channel PRESS RELEASE: BBC and YouTube partner to bring short-form BBC content to online audiences. YouTube, 02/03/2007.
[81] PRESS RELEASES: Google to acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion in stock. YouTube, 9/10/2006; Google closes acquisition of YouTube. YouTube, 13/11/2006.
[82] YouTube Video Identification MEDIA: YouTube rolls out filtering tools. BBC News, 16/10/2007; Juan Carlos Perez (IDG News Service), Google testing YouTube antipiracy system. PCWorld, 16/10/2007.
[83] YouTube launched localized versions in Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. PRESS RELEASE: YouTube speaks your language. YouTube.com, 19/06/2007.

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