The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. LONDON — A long-running legal battle over whether online platforms like YouTube are liable for copyright infringement committed by their users has taken a fresh twist with the European Court of Justice ruling that platforms should not be held accountable for hosting unauthorized works -- in certain cases. "As currently stands," the court said Tuesday (June 22), online platforms "do not, in principle, make a communication to the public of copyright-protected content illegally posted online by users." The ruling, which stems from a 2008 dispute between German music producer Frank Peterson and YouTube over unauthorized user uploads, appears to effectively clear the platform of directly infringing copyright and reaffirms its safe harbor protections. (The judgement also covers a separate action publishing group Elsevier brought against file-hosting service Cyando in 2013.)