An online photo-sharing site does not have a duty to search its site for material that infringes an artist's works, even if it has received past notices of infringement of the same works from the artist, a district court ruled. The court rejected the artist's argument that her previous takedown notices gave the site actual or apparent knowledge of other infringements of her works on the site. The court concluded that imposing such a duty on the site would impermissibly shift the burden of policying copyright infringement from rightsholders to the site. In declining to impose a duty to screen on the site, the court relied on Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube Inc., 718 F. Supp. 2d 514 (S.D.N.Y. 2010), and UMG Recordings Inc. v. Veoh Networks Inc., 665 F. Supp. 2d 1099 (C.D. Cal. 2009)
Wolk v. Kodak Imaging Network Inc. (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 17, 2011) Opinion
