By Blake Brittain
(Reuters) – Alphabet’s YouTube and Grammy-winning composer Maria Schneider said in a court filing on Sunday that they had agreed to dismiss Schneider’s federal lawsuit in San Francisco accusing the video-sharing site of having allowed the piracy of his works.
A trial in the copyright infringement case was due to begin on Monday. YouTube and Schneider have agreed to end the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be returned.
A spokesperson for Alphabet declined to comment on the matter on Monday. Schneider’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Schneider sued YouTube in 2020 on behalf of a proposed class of small or “ordinary” copyright holders, arguing that the platform protects major players like music labels and movie studios from infringers, but allows pirated content from others in order to attract users.
The complaint says large companies have access to YouTube’s advanced content identification software to automatically find and block infringing content, while individual creators are left “out in the cold”.
YouTube denied the allegations and said it went “over and above” to protect copyrights.
In a victory for YouTube, U.S. District Judge James Donato last month declined to certify the lawsuit as a class action.
The case is Schneider v. YouTube LLC, US District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:20-cv-04423.
For Schneider: Joshua Schiller and Philip Korologos of Boies Schiller Flexner, George Zelcs and Stephen Tillery of Korein Tillery
For YouTube: David Kramer of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Learn more:
YouTube faces artist copyright lawsuit
YouTube says creators are “hiding the ball” with copyright claims
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)