A court in Germany has ruled that the video-sharing site “YouTube” is responsible for videos on its site that are posted illegally. The ruling said “YouTube” must do more to prevent posters uploading copyrighted music videos to the site. The case was brought to the courts by the royalty-collecting organization Gema, which represents over 64,000 German musicians and songwriters. Gema has been fighting YouTube in the courts since 2010. The group accuses “YouTube” of using music online without paying royalties to those who produced the tunes. “YouTube” may be forced to pay royalties for all the video clips on its site. This could prove extremely costly for Google, the owner of “YouTube”.
The court said it did not consider “YouTube” to be the copyright violator, but the user who uploaded the songs. It said, however, that YouTube must implement stronger filters to block copyrighted material. YouTube representatives say the site is not responsible for what users post to it. They claim those who post copyrighted materials are at fault and that the YouTube site is simply a platform for sharing. A spokesman said,"We remain committed to finding a solution to the music licensing issue in Germany that will benefit artists, composers, authors, publishers and record labels, as well as the wider YouTube community." Currently, around 60 hours of videos are uploaded to the “YouTube” site every minute.
(www.headsup english .com)
A) COMPREHENSION
1 .Choose the correct answer (a) , (b) or (c)
The text above is taken from:a) a newspaper b)a magazine
c) an Internet site.
2.Say whether the following statements are true or false according to the text
a) According to the court, “You Tube” is responsible for the videos that are posted illegally on its site.
b) The case was brought to justice by an organization of German musicians and songwriters.
c) “You Tube” doesn’t belong to Google.
d) “You Tube”representatives deny their responsibility for what users post to the site.
3.Answer the following questions according to the text
a)Why has “Gema” been fighting “You Tube” in the courts ?
b)Whom did the court consider as copyright violator ?
3.What or who do the underlined words refer to in the text ?
a) the site§1 b) It§2 c) They§2
4.In which paragraph is it mentioned that “You Tube” may have to pay money for all the video clips on its site?
B)TEXT EXPLORATION
1.Find in the text words or phrases that are closet in meaning to the following
a) illicitly §1 b) expensive §1 c) at present §2
2.Complete the chart below
verb noun adjective adverb
.. .. .. legally
hope
3.Complete sentence (b) so that it means the same as sentence (a)
1.a) Thousands of videos are uploaded to the YouTube site every minute by anonymous posters.
b)Anonymous posters ……………………………………………………………
2. a) A spokesman said, “We remain committed to finding a solution to the problem.”
b) A spokesman said………………………………………………………………….
3.a)John regrets having uploaded a video onto You Tube without the consent of its owner.
b)He wishes ……………………………………………………………………………….
4.Join the pairs of sentences below with the connectors in brackets .Make changes where necessary .
a.You Tube is popular among Internet users. YouTube receives thousands of videos every minute.
(so…that)
b.You Tube will gain more respect for its services .You Tube controls the quality of what is posted to it.
(Providing that)
5.Classify the following words in a table according to the pronunciation of their final (s)( /s/,/z/ or /iz/)
Videos –responsibilities – services –artists
Part Two : WRITTEN EXPRESSION( choose one topic only )
Topic 1: What are the negative consequences of infringing (violating) copyrighted materials?
Use the notes below to write a composition of about 120 words.
Internet users/infringe/materials/ put /materials /pirate sites/ swap them/ with other users/
Illegal swapping/cause/ a great deal/ financial loss/ unethical/ theft(stealing other people’s properties)/kill creativity/no innovation/bad reputation…etc
Topic 2: Corruption is an evil that must be fought urgently .Write a statement of about 120 words saying what you will do to eradicate it if you are elected an MP (Member of Parliament).
The court said it did not consider “YouTube” to be the copyright violator, but the user who uploaded the songs. It said, however, that YouTube must implement stronger filters to block copyrighted material. YouTube representatives say the site is not responsible for what users post to it. They claim those who post copyrighted materials are at fault and that the YouTube site is simply a platform for sharing. A spokesman said,"We remain committed to finding a solution to the music licensing issue in Germany that will benefit artists, composers, authors, publishers and record labels, as well as the wider YouTube community." Currently, around 60 hours of videos are uploaded to the “YouTube” site every minute.
(www.headsup english .com)
A) COMPREHENSION
1 .Choose the correct answer (a) , (b) or (c)
The text above is taken from:a) a newspaper b)a magazine
c) an Internet site.
2.Say whether the following statements are true or false according to the text
a) According to the court, “You Tube” is responsible for the videos that are posted illegally on its site.
b) The case was brought to justice by an organization of German musicians and songwriters.
c) “You Tube” doesn’t belong to Google.
d) “You Tube”representatives deny their responsibility for what users post to the site.
3.Answer the following questions according to the text
a)Why has “Gema” been fighting “You Tube” in the courts ?
b)Whom did the court consider as copyright violator ?
3.What or who do the underlined words refer to in the text ?
a) the site§1 b) It§2 c) They§2
4.In which paragraph is it mentioned that “You Tube” may have to pay money for all the video clips on its site?
B)TEXT EXPLORATION
1.Find in the text words or phrases that are closet in meaning to the following
a) illicitly §1 b) expensive §1 c) at present §2
2.Complete the chart below
verb noun adjective adverb
.. .. .. legally
hope
3.Complete sentence (b) so that it means the same as sentence (a)
1.a) Thousands of videos are uploaded to the YouTube site every minute by anonymous posters.
b)Anonymous posters ……………………………………………………………
2. a) A spokesman said, “We remain committed to finding a solution to the problem.”
b) A spokesman said………………………………………………………………….
3.a)John regrets having uploaded a video onto You Tube without the consent of its owner.
b)He wishes ……………………………………………………………………………….
4.Join the pairs of sentences below with the connectors in brackets .Make changes where necessary .
a.You Tube is popular among Internet users. YouTube receives thousands of videos every minute.
(so…that)
b.You Tube will gain more respect for its services .You Tube controls the quality of what is posted to it.
(Providing that)
5.Classify the following words in a table according to the pronunciation of their final (s)( /s/,/z/ or /iz/)
Videos –responsibilities – services –artists
Part Two : WRITTEN EXPRESSION( choose one topic only )
Topic 1: What are the negative consequences of infringing (violating) copyrighted materials?
Use the notes below to write a composition of about 120 words.
Internet users/infringe/materials/ put /materials /pirate sites/ swap them/ with other users/
Illegal swapping/cause/ a great deal/ financial loss/ unethical/ theft(stealing other people’s properties)/kill creativity/no innovation/bad reputation…etc
Topic 2: Corruption is an evil that must be fought urgently .Write a statement of about 120 words saying what you will do to eradicate it if you are elected an MP (Member of Parliament).