Apple is no stranger to lawsuits as they have been on the receiving end of more than a few. More recently, Apple was subject to a lawsuit by three YouTube channels, and they have finally offered a responds.
Apple responds to YouTube lawsuit
For those unfamiliar, earlier this year, three YouTube channels filed a lawsuit against Apple. The class action lawsuit alleged that Apple violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by unlawfully accessing and scraping copyrighted content to train its AI models. The channels involved are h3h3Productions, MrShortGame Golf, and Golfholics.
Apple has since responds to the YouTube lawsuit. The company basically claims that because these videos were made publicly online, anyone could see them. They also say that even if YouTube has ways to prevent video downloading, the fact that this does not directly control access to the videos, anyone can see them.
“Plaintiffs allege that they posted audiovisual works to YouTube, and that any member of the public can see them there. No password. No payment. No lock. No key. Allegedly, YouTube employs technological measures to prevent unauthorized downloading. But because YouTube provides public access to the videos, the alleged technological measures do not control access to the works, as § 1201(a) requires.”
The company is also saying that the plaintiffs have failed to state a claim. As a result, they are requesting the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
AI companies and scraping content
Apple wouldn’t be the first to get in trouble over scraping online content. In the past, there have been numerous lawsuits and complaints filed by creators against AI companies for allegedly taking their content and using it to train AI models. Some platforms have also put measures into place to prevent this from happening.
However, other companies have also worked out licensing deals. This means that some publishers are allowing some AI companies to use their data, but in exchange for money. That seems like a fair trade. But the lawsuit’s timing is interesting.
Back in June, Apple announced iOS 27 and a revamped Siri AI. Then a few weeks later, it was discovered that in the iOS 27 beta that Apple seems to be making it clear that Siri cannot access content behind a URL for summary purposes. This suggests that the company is trying to steer clear of potential copyright issues, which like we said, makes this lawsuit interesting.
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