YouTube Resolves Composer’s Copyright Lawsuit One Day Before Trial

Alphabet’s YouTube and Grammy-winning composer Maria Schneider have recently reached an agreement to dismiss Schneider’s federal lawsuit in San Francisco.

The lawsuit accused YouTube of facilitating the unauthorized sharing of Schneider’s works. The court filing confirmed the resolution of the case between the two parties.

In a recent court filing, YouTube, owned by Alphabet, and Grammy-winning composer Maria Schneider jointly announced the dismissal of Schneider’s federal lawsuit in San Francisco, which alleged that YouTube facilitated the piracy of her creative works.

The lawsuit was scheduled for a trial that was set to commence on Monday. Both parties reached an agreement to end the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled in the future.

As of now, an Alphabet spokesperson has chosen not to comment on the filing, and there has been no immediate response from Schneider’s attorneys regarding the matter.

In 2020, Maria Schneider filed a lawsuit against YouTube representing a proposed class of small or “ordinary” copyright owners. She alleged that the platform favors protection for major entities such as music labels and movie studios against infringers, but allows pirated content from others to attract more users.

According to the complaint, large companies have access to YouTube’s advanced Content ID software, which enables them to scan and block infringing content automatically. In contrast, individual creators are left without adequate protection

YouTube denied the allegations made by Maria Schneider and stated that it takes extensive measures to protect copyrights.

In a favorable ruling for YouTube, U.S. District Judge James Donato recently declined to certify the lawsuit as a class action.