25 July 2008

MADRID - After winning on Wednesday its first legal battle against YouTube to stop it distributing copyrighted material, Telecinco announced Thursday that it is planning to seek compensation from the video-hosting website.

Mario Rodríguez, who heads the television network's legal affairs, said that Telecinco has decided to divide the case into two parts due to its complexity and that the company would pursue compensation.

The first phase of the television company's legal strategy amounted to getting the internet video-hosting website to "suspend the usage and dissemination" of audiovisual programmes without the prior consent of Telecinco and its affiliate, Telecinco Cinema.

Rodríguez said that the court's ruling to this effect was announced "immediately" to YouTube.

A representative of YouTube, speaking from California on Thursday, insisted that the video host always aims to respect copyright laws.

"All we require is the cooperation of the authors," he said.

[El Pais / Expatica]

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