A federal appeals court, in a ruling stemming from a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, on Monday overturned a previous decision to order Google to remove from YouTube an anti-Islamic film trailer that sparked protests across the Muslim world.
In a 10-1 ruling, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena determined that removal of the 13-minute “Innocence of Muslims” clip was a prior restraint of speech that violated the U.S. Constitution. The decision by the court’s full panel reversed a three-judge ruling from February 2014.
It was not immediately known when the clip would be re-posted on YouTube.
The plaintiff, California actress Cindy Lee Garcia, filed suit in Los Angeles federal court in 2012, alleging she was duped into appearing in the film by filmmaker Mark Basseley, who also uses the name Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.
“We are sympathetic to her plight,” Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote for the court. “Nonetheless, the claim against Google is grounded in copyright law, not privacy, emotional distress, or tort law, and Garcia seeks to impose speech restrictions under copyright laws meant to foster rather than repress free expression.”
Garcia said she answered a casting call for a minor role in a low-budget film ostensibly to be titled “Desert Warrior” and was paid $500 for the work.
The trailer, posted on YouTube and dubbed to give the appearance that Garcia had made incendiary accusations against the Prophet Mohammed, sparked anti-American unrest among Muslims in Egypt, Libya and other countries in 2012.
The violence coincided with an attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya.
Garcia never signed a model release transferring her intellectual property rights to Basseley or any production company, according to her court papers.
M. Cris Armenta, the actress’ attorney, said the appellate decision could put Garcia’s life at risk from extremists.
Garcia “did not know, at the time, that she was a participant in a production that would result in casting her into controversy over an attack on Americans in Benghazi, and putting her life, the lives of her family and others, at risk,” Armenta said.
The actress appealed after a Los Angeles district court turned down her request that YouTube pull the trailer.
Basseley was sentenced to a year in federal prison in November 2012 after he admitted to violating the terms of his release from an earlier conviction.
Garcia has 90 days to decide whether to file notice of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but her attorney said such an appeal is unlikely.
A request for comment sent to a Google representative was not immediately answered.
— City News Service