User-created content - who is responsible?
Subway is suing Quiznos over an advertising campaign that was centered on user-generated content. In the campaign, Quiznos ran a contest asking consumers to create videos showing Quiznos sandwiches as superior to Subway sandwiches. Quiznos posted the videos on meatnomeat.com (no longer available) and awarded the winning video with a $10,000 prize. Subway claims that Quiznos is liable for the false and derogatory statements about the Subway brand in the user-created videos. The Quiznos defense rests in part on the Communications Decency Act, which protects providers of interactive computer services from responsibility for user content on their sites - a protection normally applied to sites such as aol.com.
The case is scheduled to be heard in 2009. The decision could prove interesting for marketers that have found user-generated content to be an effective and inexpensive approach to advertising their brand.
This NY Times article discusses the case and links to the winning video.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/business/media/29adco.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business
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