In a blow to record companies — and a win for Internet service providers, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York yesterday ruled that Vimeo cannot be held liable for copyright infringement if the video-sharing site unknowingly hosts older music that was uploaded by users. In addition, the court ruled that it is not enough to prove Vimeo ignored infringement if company employees had watched videos containing copyrighted sound recordings. The case, which centered on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), was being watched closely by Silicon Valley.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2009, raised copyright issues regarding music featured in 199 videos posted to Vimeo, many of which involved “lip-dub” versions of songs by the Beatles and other artists.

In 2013, Judge Ronnie Abrams ruled that “Vimeo was protected under the DMCA safe harbor provisions with regard to 153 videos,” reports Reuters. “But she held that the safe harbor was not applicable to recordings from before 1972, the year Congress first included them in the scope of federal copyright law. Pre-1972 recordings are protected by state law.”

The 2013 ruling introduced “a potential interpretation of the DMCA that could have given the music industry a helpful stepping stone in sticking similar claims to YouTube, Facebook, and other tech companies,” suggests The Verge.

DMCA “protects Internet service providers from liability when users upload copyrighted content while requiring them to remove the material if they receive notice or otherwise become aware of the infringement,” notes Reuters.

“Today’s ruling by the Second Circuit is a significant win for not just Vimeo, but all online platforms that empower creators to share content with the world,” said Michael Cheah, Vimeo’s general counsel.

Among those supporting the appeal included Facebook, Google and Twitter.