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Google launches copyright detection tool

Until now, YouTube users have freely uploaded and shared copyrighted material online and with so many clips it was hard for Google and right holders to step in. Google in retaliation, working on pressure from the media industry, has launched a copyright-detection tool allowing copyright holders to monitor their content and take actions to protect their rights.

The tool, uses image-recognition technology and seems to be able to scan a video during upload and match it against a database of known media. From this, Google can then inform the owner, presumably through an online tool and allow them to take suitable action.

The owner can choose to block the content, post it, or to share revenue of any adverts placed on the same page – something we’re sure many media companies will be looking to take part in.

At present because of the time involved with scanning the content and searching against known media, content marked to be blocked may appear live on the site for a few minutes. Google however has said that it hopes to make the system near instantaneous in operation.

The tools effectiveness has been hotly debated across the web, with Google Chief executive, Eric Schmidt, saying that ‘developing a system that could identify video clips with 100 percent accuracy was virtually impossible … the question is, can we get to 80 or 90 percent?’ It is not known how effective the tool is at present, although a testing partner states it is a work in progress.

This long awaited tool looks set to be a real benefit to media owners looking to exert their rights in what has previously been an area of almost no control.

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