CBS, Dailymotion, Fox Entertainment, Microsoft, MySpace, NBC Universal, Veoh Networks, Viacom and The Walt Disney Company issued the principles on Thursday, saying that they will serve as a set of guidelines for user-generated content (UGC) services and content creators.
They are also urging other operators of UCG sites to sign up to the guidelines.
The principles call for UCG service providers to implement state of the art filtering technology with the aim of blocking infringing uploads before they are made available to the public, remove infringing content uploaded before the technology could block it and remove links to sites that are used for disseminating infringing content.
"Today's announcement marks a significant step in transforming the internet from a Wild West to a popular medium that respects the rule of law," said Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Universal. "By recognizing the mutual benefits of a technology-based framework to control piracy, technology and content companies have laid the foundation for the lawful growth of video on the internet."
The companies said in a statement that the principles "acknowledge a collective respect for protecting copyrights and recognize that filtering technologies must be effective and are only a part of what is necessary to achieve this goal".
The comments appear to be an oblique reference to Google’s Video Identification tool. The search engine, which owns YouTube, announced earlier last week that it was launching the tool to help copyright owners identify their works on YouTube and enable them to block videos.
If the new identification tool (which is in a beta version and will be improved following feedback) succeeds in cutting down the amount of copyright-infringing content posted on YouTube, it could have an impact on pending litigation between content owners and Google.
In March this year, Viacom sued Google and YouTube, alleging that they "promote and profit from massive copyright infringement of television programs and feature films on an unprecedented scale involving hundreds of thousands of pirated clips".
The companies behind the newly-issued guidelines said they were calling on others to "embrace" these principles: "While recognizing that adhering to these principles may require each company to yield some from positions it has held, at the end of the day the supporters believe all will benefit from such compromise. The supporters look forward to further discussions with other parties to attain their support."
