An appeals court ordered Google to remove all copies of the infamous "Innocence of Muslims" from YouTube, a shoddy anti-Islamic video that spurred widespread protests in 2012. The court opinion was issued on Wednesday.
The ruling, which issues a temporary takedown, comes after an actress who briefly appeared in the video — Cindy Lee Garcia — filed a copyright complaint, arguing she had signed up for a different video. In a 2-1 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Garcia and granted a preliminary injunction, ordering Google and YouTube to remove all copies of the video.
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The director Mark Basseley Youssef, also known as Sam Bacile, signed on Garcia in 2011 for a video titled "Desert Warrior." A scene recorded with Garcia for that video appeared in "Innocence of Muslims," and her line was dubbed over with: "Is your Mohammed a child molester?" Garcia ended up receiving death threats for her appearance in the "Innocence of Muslims." A video called "Desert Warrior" was never released by Youssef.
"The film differs so radically from anything Garcia could have imagined when she was cast that it can't possibly be authorized by any implied license she granted," Judge Alex Kozinski wrote in the ruling. "Garcia was duped into providing an artistic performance that was used in a way she never could have foreseen." A few weeks after the video gathered international attention, Youssef was arrested for bank and credit card fraud in 2010. He was later sentenced to one year in jail for violating the terms of his probation.
Kozinski concluded that Garcia faced irreparable harm from the death threats she received, and that taking down the video was necessary to prevent any further harm. When a lower court denied ordering Google to take down the video, arguing Garcia wouldn't suffer major harm without an injunction, Garcia appealed to the 9th Circuit. Google argued taking it down wouldn't make a difference since the video was already in wide circulation.
After the video sparked countless protests across the world, including some that ended in death, Google removed it from YouTube in certain countries. But it refused to take it down completely, even after the White House requested it.
The 9th Circuit court issued the order on Feb. 19, but the court didn't disclose the ruling until today after issuing the opinion. According to the order, Google had 24 hours to remove all copies of the video and "take all reasonable steps to prevent further uploads."
Google wasn't pleased. "We strongly disagree with this ruling and will fight it," a Google spokesperson told Mashable.
From a quick search on YouTube on Wednesday afternoon, it appears the video has indeed been taken down in the U.S., but Google declined to confirm.
The case will now return to the District Court for the Central District of California, where Garcia filed suit against Google, to settle a copyright claim. She claimed to hold the copyright on her performance in the movie and requested its removal from YouTube, although actors normally cede their rights in signing up for a movie.
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