Eight more dive into copyright lawsuit against Google

New York (NY) - Eight more content creators and copyright holders have joined in a class action lawsuit against Google for allowing illegal use of their material on YouTube.

The Premier League and music publisher Bourne & Co are heading the massive legal action against Google. The two groups announced this week that eight new individuals and organizations have joined in the battle, including the National Music Publishers’ Association, the largest music publishing trade organization in the US, the Finnish Football League, the Rugby Football League, and author Daniel Quinn.

Under existing statutes, website are not immediately legally liable for the duplication or posting of copyrighted content. However, if the owner of the copyright asks the site to take down certain content, the owner of the site is then legally obligated to remove it. All plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim they did just that but videos of their copyrighted content have not been removed. Google, however, contends it is fully abiding by the law.

"The clear and growing message to YouTube and Google is simple : their callous and opportunistic business model is contrary to right, contrary to law, and must and will be stopped," said Premier League spokesperson Dan Johnson.