April 23, 2013 - Viacom lost its copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube when a federal judge ruled that YouTube was protected by the "safe harbor provisions" of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Under that law, YouTube would have to have knowledge of acts of copyright infringement committed by its users in order to be held liable for that infringement.
“The burden of showing that YouTube knew or was aware of the specific infringements of the works in the suit cannot be shifted to YouTube to disprove,” said Judge Louis L. Stanton of the Federal District Court in New York.
Viacom plans to appeal the decision, and believes that "a jury should weigh the facts of this case and the overwhelming evidence that YouTube willfully infringed on our rights."