YouTube's content is mostly user-generated

The New York Times comments on a report by vidmeter.com about the popularity of user-generated content prevalent on YouTube as opposed to content owned by the creative industries. The report concludes that of the most popular videos, only 9% had been removed due to DMCA take-down requests, while those potentially infringing videos had generated less than 6% of all views.

This is quite a remarkable study, but it confirms my own experience with the site. I never visit YouTube to watch potentially infringing content, I visit to watch some amazing user generated content, such as this brilliant explanation on the genetic evidence for evolution.

The implications of the study are clear for Viacom v Google, as it seems to remove potential inducement arguments made by copyright owners.