A judge ruled recently that Veoh, a web video site with user-generated content, was protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s Safe Harbor provision, thus stopping Universal Music Group’s copyright suit against the website. UMG was suing Veoh for allowing the sharing of video that contained music of UMG’s artists. The judge, however, felt that Veoh was taking all steps necessary to avoid liability.

The § 512 (c) Safe Harbor provision states that a service provider will not be held liable if they are unaware of infringing material and if they take the necessary measures to take down infringing material once they are made aware. The judge found that Veoh had a strong DMCA policy and had done what was financially and reasonably possible to eliminate infringing work. He noted that, had companies been forced to act under the general awareness that infringing material was being uploaded, little technological progress would be possible. (Read the rest of the ruling.)

This buzz around this ruling is its potentially huge implications on Viacom’s similar (but much more expensive) suit against YouTube. YouTube is under fire from Viacom for not doing enough to block infringing content, though they seem to be taking similar steps as Veoh. Although the Viacom case is in a different district and the UMG case does not have to apply, the ruling court will most likely take it into account.

Video content providers can rest a little easier knowing that they have a better chance of protection under Safe Harbor. Hopefully, this will skew money, time, and effort away from costly litigation as copyright owners realize that they are responsible for takedowns, not the video provider.

For more information, check out Ars Technica’s coverage of the case.