For over a decade, music producer Peterson has sued YouTube over copyright infringement. YouTube\’s defense is that the users themselves are responsible for the content and that if someone reports infringement, the content will be blocked. This sounds fine, but the producers are demanding that YouTube itself take full responsibility and pay the necessary compensation. They also need to provide information about who uploaded the illegal content to YouTube.
It is virtually impossible to determine the true identity of the person who uploaded the video to this server. You can upload anything you like to your account anonymously from an Internet cafe or infocenter, i.e., by simply registering under a fictitious name from a public IP address. And the clause that the person who uploads the material is legally liable for it seems to be legally acceptable. That is why this dispute has dragged on for years.
Controversial topic of royalty payments
When the topic of copyright starts to come up, it boils over in many people\’s minds. Not surprisingly, the topic of copyright is a highly controversial one, and even the most controversial in the area of remuneration for works of authorship. There is the question of whether royalties for artistic activity are exaggerated. But this runs into the general issue of labor activity and the level of wages.
As an example, consider the construction of a road bridge on a busy highway. Someone has to design the bridge structure, create the project, and calculate the dynamic mechanical stresses. Anyone who is at least a little tech-savvy would be familiar with the effort such a person would have to expend.
Other efforts must be made by the engineering and construction professionals themselves. Since the slightest mistake can lead to the collapse of a bridge or the loss of life, all workers are essentially responsible for the lives of other people who sometimes travel on the highway and rely on them as drivers to do their jobs well.
However, when some of the artistic rewards and wages of blue-collar jobs are compared to those of designers and engineers, the results can be surprising. For example, does it seem fair that a folk singer gets paid many times more for a single album of 16 songs than those who worked hard for months in all kinds of weather to build a highway bridge?