Who Will Be The First Person Sued For Copyright Infringement Over Lifecasting?
The Premier League, the UK based football (or soccer, for those of us on this side of the Atlantic) league has a long history of misunderstanding the internet, and often that seems to involve having its lawyers lash out at the wrong people. First, back in 2005, the league blamed broadband providers for allowing fans to stream games live online, rather than recognizing that fans streaming such games showed a real demand for such a service. Then, in 2007, the league sued YouTube for hosting some clips of Premier League matches. This was boneheaded for a variety of reasons. First, YouTube was not the guilty party if it was copyright infringement. The liable party would be whoever uploaded the clips. Second, given YouTube’s limits, people could only post relative short clips of games, which, if anything might help attract more fans to the matches. The latest is that the Premier League is suing Justin.tv, the popular online service that helps people “lifecast,” allowing them to broadcast a
