VH1 - SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE BEATS VIACOM

A North Carolina school board candidate who posted his TV commercial on YouTube, then saw it air on Viacom's VH1 channel, has successfully fought off Viacom's attempt to remove the spot from YouTube. Christopher Knight had observed that VH1 had never asked him for permission to air the spot and had not paid him for its use. (When Knight uploaded the spot a second time, he included the introduction by the VH1 host.) He filed a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) counter-notification claim against Viacom -- and won. The clip was restored on YouTube, which also informed Knight that his account would not be lifted, as it previously threatened to do.

14/09/2007