YouTube plans to start banning videos posted to the site that may contain copyrighted content, according to CEO Eric Schmidt.

The new system, which Schmidt called Claim Your Content, will automatically identify copyright material so that it can be removed, Schmidt said. Schmidt made his comments at the National Association of Broadcasters conference.

“We are very close to turning this on,” Schmidt said.

The system was promised to copyright holders last year after Google acquired YouTube for $1.6 billion. Network executives have accused Google of stalling so YouTube could reap the big traffic that professionally-created shows generate. Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google in March, accusing Google of massive copyright infringement.

via CNET