How can I get sued by Google for uploading copyrighted material?

Question

I uploaded video lectures by many colleges and universities and also many documentaries from PBS, BBC, including Cosmos, by Carl Sagan, etc.

I am very worried, because I am 15 and I don't want to get sued. I am just making these contents available so we can all have access to this content. I am worried tha I might be sued. Can that happen?

If, for instance, PBS sends a complain to Google for having PBs documentaries available there and Google gives me information to them, does that mean that Google is not responsable for letting me post these videos there and I will be one who will be sued? Please help, I am kind of worried, a lot.

Answer 1

Google will hand over your information to the complaining copyright holders who will sue you, not Google.

You should probably go ahead and remove those items now.

Answer 2

Of course you can get sued for mucking about with copyrighted material. There is a good chance that you won't get caught, but why take the chance? Since you are a minor, your parents may be held liable. After all, it's not like you have hundreds of thousands of dollars to satisfy an adverse judgment.

I trust this is something you have put on your website. I would suggest this is a bad idea, and to simply delete the content. You can, you know, ask for permission from Google or whomever owns the copyright to the material you want to use. Since this is presumably for educational goals (PBS), I see no reason why you couldn't get permission to use whatever content you are uploading, if you but ask. First ask, then act, that's all.

Answer 3

Regardless of Googles complicity, you are the one uploading copyrighted material so you will be the one getting sued if the copyright holder decides to go after someone.

Google has deeper pockets than you so they might go after you both you and Google like when Harlan Ellison sued both someone that posted his copyrighted stories and AOL who hosted the material on their message boards.

My advice is stop doing something you know is wrong and that could possibly cost your parents a lot of time and money.

Answer 4

Posting copyrighted material is illegal. Remember YouTube used to have a lot of full-length television shows posted by ordinary users? Now you rarely see full-length TV shows unless they've been posted by the network themselves. If a company finds copyrighted material illegally posted on a site, they have the right to go to the administrators of that site and demand to know who it was that posted them.

A somewhat similar situation that I've heard of companies doing this involves the illegal downloading of music. Recently, my university received letters from the RIAA that said that the school network had been used to download music illegally. They demanded that the school tell them who the students were that did this, or they sued the school.

Answer 5

If you post copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright holder, YOU can be sued by the copyright holder. You SHOULD be worried. Actually, as you are a minor, your PARENTS should be worried. Very worried.

Answer 6

dont listen to everyone else... you ARE NOT GOING TO GET SUED!!!!! there are THOUSANDS of copy written videos on the internet like on Youtube and google video, and tons more on p2p sites.

if you are worried use a proxy so they can't trace you. and i don't think that PBS would really care anyway; you are promoting their channel by posting the video

>>>edit: go to google video or youtube and type "dave chapelle" and you will get about 20 copy-written videos. they have not taken these videos off. google isn't gonna care about a few PBS documentaries

Answer 7

Let me remind you that this happens ALL the time on YouTube.

No, you aren't gonna get sued, the worst is the companies are going to go after Google and tell them to delete it, and that IF they find your videos. Nothing is going to happen to you.

Answer 8

Yes... I mean no, of course not. Just keep right on stealing... er... uploading our... I mean their stuff. Just a few more things then we'll have enough for a subpoena... er... I mean have fun.

Signed,

Not a member of the Google Goon Squad

Answer 9

If you know you are committing copyright infringement, and you are worried about it, then stop breaking the law.