YouTube has agreed to post warnings in Japanese against uploading copyrighted material onto its popular video-sharing Web site, a group of Japanese companies said Tuesday.
YouTube also said that it would make efforts to filter out copyrighted Japanese video with the help of its parent company Google Inc., according to a statement from a group of 23 Japanese TV stations, entertainment companies and other organizations.
The statement said YouTube agreed to post the warnings "soon," but the Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers expects it to happen in about a month, according to spokesman Masato Oikawa.
YouTube announced the decision during a meeting with the group of companies held in Tokyo on Tuesday, the statement said.
YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, as well as David Eun, vice president of YouTube's corporate parent Google, attended Tuesday's meeting, according to the statement.
In October, YouTube deleted nearly 30,000 files after the Japanese group complained of copyright infringement.
Last week, U.S. media company Viacom Inc., which owns the cable networks MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and the Paramount Pictures movie studio, asked YouTube to remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips from its site.
Viacom said YouTube and Google had failed to deliver on several "filtering tools" to control unauthorized video from appearing on the hugely popular site.
Meanwhile, some media companies such as CBS Corp. and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal have made deals to allow YouTube to use video clips from their programming.
YouTube already has a notice in English on their site about handling copyright infringement.
