版權之戰：德法庭捍衛著作權 YouTube吃敗仗

策劃、編譯■李威撰、謝雯伃 德國漢堡法院20日在一樁具有指標性意義的案子中，做出有利於版權所有者的裁決。谷歌公司旗下的YouTube和其他類似的線上影音分享服務，在德國可能將付出龐大版權費。 Google Inc's YouTube and similar online music and video services may face a hefty royalties bill in Germany after a Hamburg court ruled in favor of copyright （1） owners in a landmark case on Friday. 法院指出，YouTube必須為其用戶所發布的內容負責，強制YouTube需撤下受版權保護的影片。 The court said the website was responsible for the content its users published and forced it to take down copyrighted clips. 不到1個月前，美國上訴法院恢復審理娛樂巨擘衛康公司、英格蘭足球超級聯盟及其他媒體公司指控YouTube未經允許使用版權影片的官司，對谷歌造成嚴重打擊。 Friday's ruling comes less than a month after a U.S. appeals court dealt Google a major setback by reviving lawsuits from Viacom Inc, the English Premier League and various other media companies over the use of copyrighted videos on YouTube without permission. 德國版權保護團體、德國音樂著作人保護協會（GEMA）和數個處理音樂版權的團體，2010年對YouTube提出訴訟，控告YouTube上頭有7支音樂影片侵犯版權。 The suit in Hamburg, for allegedly infringing the copyright on seven music clips, was brought against YouTube in 2010 by German royalty （2） collections body GEMA and several other groups handling music rights. YouTube辯稱，該網站只是提供使用者公布內容的科技平台，並不負有監督影音影片是否侵害版權的責任，但法庭不同意這項說法。 YouTube argued it merely provided the technical framework to publish content and was not responsible for monitoring videos and music clips for possible copyright violations, but the court disagreed. 漢堡法院表示，雖然YouTube不需徹查整個網站可能涉及侵權的影片，但在版權持有人的要求下必須移除影片。 It said while YouTube did not have to proactively trawl through its site in search of possible copyright violations, it must remove clips at the request of the rights holder. 谷歌德國的一名發言人表示：「我們樂見這次決議。」他說，法院這次裁決同時為上傳網站和使用該網站的人們奠定了法律確定性。 "We welcome this decision," a spokesman for Google in Germany said, saying the court's move created legal certainty for both uploading sites and the people who use them. GEMA一名發言人表示：「這是一次重要的局部性勝利。」 A spokesman for GEMA said: "This in an important partial victory." 創作者要求網路平台付費 GEMA表示該團體代表6萬4千名歌曲創作人和音樂家。該團體要求免費提供使用者音樂且靠廣告資助的音樂隨選平台，應該要支付10％以上的音樂營收，以及每個串流的費用。 GEMA, which says it represents more than 64,000 songwriters and musicians, demands that music-on-demand platforms（3） which stream music to users for free and are financed by advertisements pay just over 10 percent of their music revenues, plus an additional per-stream fee. YouTube表示，每分鐘有長度約60個小時的影片上傳到該網站；每個月有長度超過30億小時的影片透過該平台被觀看。 YouTube says some 60 hours of video are uploaded to its site every minute, and more than 3 billion hours of video are watched on the platform each month. 對媒體公司而言，近來的法律訴訟都著重於一關鍵性議題上：如何在不讓出對電視節目、電影和音樂的控制下，吸引到更多網路觀閱人次。 Recent lawsuits have centered on a crucial issue for media companies: how to win internet viewers without ceding control of TV shows, movies and music. 嚴格規範恐造成網路監控 然而，欲對藝術家和媒體公司提供更多法律保障的行動，卻與另一批人的想法發生衝撞。他們擔心嚴格規範將扼止下載電影及音樂自由，並鼓勵網路監控。 But a push for better legal protection of artists' and media companies' rights has met opposition from those who fear tighter regulation will curb their freedom to download movies and music for free and encourage internet surveillance. 今年稍早，全歐洲有數萬名示威人士走上街頭，抗議國際反盜版協議。 Earlier this year, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Europe to protest against an international anti-piracy （4） agreement. 德國海盜黨是一個反對《反仿冒品交易協定》的倡議團體。該團體去年突然竄起，根據一項民調，該黨已取代綠黨，成為德國第3大政治勢力。 One vocal group opposing the Anti-Counterfeiting（5） Trade Agreement (ACTA) is Germany's Pirate Party, which came out of nowhere last year and according to a recent poll has overtaken the Greens to become the third strongest political grouping in the country. 今年稍早，出生德國的線上檔案分享網站Megaupload.com創辦人達康被捕，可說是當局近期打擊侵犯著作權最知名的一起案例。 The arrest of Kim Dotcom, a German national who founded online file-sharing site Megaupload.com, earlier this year is the most prominent recent case of authorities cracking down on copyright infringement. 谷歌20日表示，該公司準備好與GEMA重啟談判，就如何使用受版權保護內容達成協議。GEMA和YouTube從2009年4月起持續舉辦協商會談，直到2010年9月因談判未果，GEMA正式提出訴訟。 Google said on Friday it was prepared to resume negotiations with GEMA to seek an agreement on the use of copyrighted content. GEMA and YouTube held talks from April 2009 until the suit was filed in September 2010, with no result. 其他線上服務公司曾表示，GEMA的要求並不合理，並會讓線上流傳音樂和影片的平台難以獲利。 Other online services have said GEMA's demands are unreasonable and make it too hard to make a profit by distributing music and videos online. 今年1月被唱片公司EMI控告的音樂分享網站Grooveshark在今年稍早撤出德國，聲稱GEMA要求的版權費高得不合理。 Music streaming site Grooveshark, which was sued by record company EMI Group Ltd in January, pulled out of Germany earlier this year claiming GEMA demanded unreasonably high royalty fees. 檔案分享網站RapidShare今年3月遭德國法院告知，需更主動去確保其使用者不會上傳任何受版權保護內容供其他使用者使用。 File-sharing site RapidShare was told by a German court in March that it has to be more proactive in ensuring users did not make any copyrighted content available to others. （路透Reuters） 關鍵字詞 1. copyright (n.) 版權2. royalty (n.) 版稅3. platform (n.) 平台4. piracy (n.) 剽竊、盜版行為5. counterfeit (v.) 偽造、仿冒