Capitol Records, LLC v. Vimeo, LLC, 972 F. Supp. 2d 500, 972 F. Supp. 2d 537 (S.D.N.Y. 2013), was a 2013 copyright infringement case out of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The decision resolved cross-motions for summary judgment filed by a video-sharing service (Vimeo) and a pair of record labels. Vimeo sought a ruling that, as a matter of law, it was entitled to safe harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as to a series of copyrighted videos that were uploaded to its platform; the record labels sought the opposite ruling. Facts Vimeo began operating in 2004-2005 as an online video platform that requires its users to upload only material they have created or participated in the creation of. Vimeo does not pre-screen the uploaded material, and relies on community reviews to guarantee that users follow its Terms of service, which include a "Community Guideline" that sets restrictions on uploaded content. Vimeo also provides a web page for its copyright infringement policy regarding the DMCA. The policy is enforced by the "Community Team," which uses "Moderator Tools" to filter and remove videos that contain offensive or infringing content. In December 2009, record companies Capitol Records and EMI filed a lawsuit claiming that 199 videos on Vimeo’s platform infringed their music copyrights. Vimeo did not dispute that it lacked authorization from the copyright owners and that the videos infringed the plaintiffs' copyrights. Nevertheless, Vimeo argued that it was entitled to “safe harbor” protection under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c) (information residing on systems or networks at direction of users) of the DMCA. Opinion September 2013 Order In evaluating a safe harbor defense under the DMCA, a court will first evaluate whether the party has met a set of three threshold criteria. The court will then decide whether the party has fulfilled the requirements of the safe harbor protection it invokes. Threshold criteria The threshold criteria require that an online service provider has adopted, reasonably implemented, and informed users of a policy to terminate accounts of users who repeatedly infringe their copyright policy. Based on this, the District Court discussed the following: Whether or not Vimeo qualified as a service provider: "Service provider" is a broad term covering various online entities. The court noted that sites that provide more than basic file storage for users have consistently been found to be service providers.