The first stage in the first copyright infringement suit against video sharing giant YouTube has ended in stalemate. Both sides in the fight applied for an initial judgment against the other, but neither was granted and the case will now proceed further.

Tur is the owner of news footage of dramatic events such as a car chase involving OJ Simpson and footage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. He sued YouTube because users had posted and viewed some of his footage on the site.

He claimed that because it was making money from his footage through web page advertising, YouTube was not entitled to the 'safe harbor' protection of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).

YouTube had asked Judge Cooper to rule definitively that it was protected by 'safe harbor'. She refused to do that because she said that though Tur had not proved that YouTube was in control of the material, neither had YouTube proved that it was not.