German copyright group GEMA accuses YouTube of singling them out in streaming rights battle

Have you ever been looking for a free preview of that song or album on YouTube, and then you get that message from the awkward-looking television telling you that the site doesn't have the respective rights or licenses to play the video? Well, we have. Those messages are causing more legal trouble in Germany than just copyright issues. GEMA, whose acronym translates to "Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights" in English, is alleging that YouTube has unfairly singled out its organization for causing those messages to appear.

GEMA represents 68,000 copyright holders in Germany, plus more around the world. The company's first sparring with YouTube occurred during 2009, when negotiations failed to result in a copyright rate for streaming video. Therefore GEMA didn't sign a licensing agreement with the video site and none of its represented material has been available on YouTube since. GEMA later charged that YouTube should be responsible for blocking the now-illegal videos from being placed up on the site, and courts agreed.

YouTube-somewhat bitter that it now couldn't use GEMA's videos and had to do all the cleanup itself-let it's frustration show in the German version of the "unavailable video" alert.

"Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany," reads the alert. "Because it may contain music for which GEMA has not granted the respective music rights."

Seems harmless enough, but GEMA has alleged YouTube is painting the organization as the sole villain in having licensed videos removed from the site. The same text also appears on unlicensed videos unaffiliated with GEMA. Once again, the courts have sided with the copyright group, and are working on a deadline for YouTube to remove the offending alerts. If the site doesn't comply, it could be costly: Every alert left on an inappropriate video past the deadline will result in a nearly $342,000 fine.