YouTube in the dock as Mediaset claims landmark legal victory

A Rome court has ruled in favour of commercial broadcaster Mediaset in its dispute with YouTube and ordered the immediate removal from YouTube’s servers of all illegally uploaded content.

According to Mediaset, the judgment referred specifically to reality show Grande Fratello (Big Brother), the most popular Mediaset show on the internet.

Mediaset hailed the decision as “the first time that the requests of broadcasters and publishers to have their rights and the exclusivity of their content have been recognised” and said that it identified websites including YouTube as publishers that are obliged to respect the rules governing other media. YouTube is therefore responsible for the content that it exploits for advertising purposes, Mediaset said.

The broadcaster first began proceedings against YouTube in July 2008. Mediaset is suing YouTube for €500m in damages over the issue.