LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- A U.S. appeals court panel ruled 2-1 Wednesday YouTube must remove "Innocence of Muslims," a low-budget movie that ignited protests throughout the Muslim world.
The order to Google Inc., which owns YouTube, came in the case of Cindy Lee Garcia, who answered a casting call for a movie called "Desert Warrior." Instead of that film, Garcia found her scenes in another movie, "Innocence of Muslims," in which her voice was dubbed over.
The new movie appeared to show Garcia asking, "Is your Muhammad a child molester?" court records said.
A federal judge in Los Angeles refused to issue an injunction requiring the removal of the film from YouTube, but the appeals court panel reversed.
The panel majority "concluded that the plaintiff established a likelihood of success on the merits of her claim" of infringement on her performance by the owners of the film.
The panel majority said Garcia has "shown that she is likely to succeed on the merits on her copyright claim, [and] that she faces irreparable harm absent an injunction ... ."
Arab-language versions of the video apparently ignited violent protests in Muslim countries, including rioting in Cairo. The film is partly blamed by the Obama administration for inspiring the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was killed.
