# Big Victory for Google and UGC in General

By [Continuations](https://continuations.com) · 2010-06-24

google, digital millennium copyright act, youtube, viacom, copyright

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Yesterday, a judge granted YouTube’s Motion for Summary Judgment in the Viacom v. YouTube litigation.  This is a major victory for all user generated content (UGC) companies because it strongly affirms the DMCA safe harbor.  Congrats to [David Drummond](http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#david) and the legal team at Google.  Given that Google has been defending Internet freedom on a number of fronts it must feel good for them to score this victory.  Great coverage can be found [over at the EFF](http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/06/youtube-wins-summary-judgment-viacom-dmca).

With this decision it is even more important than ever before that any web company that has UGC – and that includes just having forums! – make sure to [register with the Copyright office](http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/) ($105).  In addition to registering you also need to include appropriate DMCA language in the terms of service with a reference to the designated agent registered with the Copyright office.  I am often surprised to find that startups that have extensive UGC components are not familiar with this.

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*Originally published on [Continuations](https://continuations.com/big-victory-for-google-and-ugc-in-general)*