Court rules Google free to host anti-Islamic film despite complaints

Google should not have to remove an anti-Islamic film from its YouTube website because a woman complained that she was duped into performing in a film that depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a fool and sexual deviant, a US appeals court ruled.

In a case widely followed for its potential impact on the entertainment industry, an 11-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said on Monday an injunction prohibiting Google from broadcasting the film should be dissolved.

The 9th Circuit opted to rehear the case after an earlier three-judge panel had ordered Google to take down the controversial film Innocence of Muslims.

The film, billed as a trailer, triggered anti-American unrest among Muslims in Egypt, Libya and other countries in 2012.

The plaintiff, actress Cindy Lee Garcia, objected to the film after learning it incorporated a clip she had made for a different movie, which had been partially dubbed and in which she appeared to be asking: "Is your Mohammed a child molester?"

The case raised questions on whether actors may, in certain circumstances, have an independent copyright on their individual performances.