Court orders YouTube to take down anti-Muslim film

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco court orders YouTube to take down an anti-Muslim film that sparked violence in many parts of the Middle East. The decision by a divided three-judge panel said the YouTube posting infringed actress Cindy Lee Garcia’s copyright to her role, and she, not just the filmmaker, could demand its removal, based on an assessment of the control of the clip, not its contents.

Alex Kozinski: Garcia’s performance was used in a way that she found abhorrent and her appearance in the film subjected her to threats of physical harm and even death. Despite these harms, and despite Garcia’s viable copyright claim, Google refused to remove the film from YouTube.

Garcia said she was duped into appearing in the film by Mark Basseley Youssef. She said the script she saw referenced neither Muslims nor Mohammad, and her voice was dubbed over after filming.