By Jonathan Stempel and Dan Levine

(Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday ordered Google Inc. to remove from its video-sharing site YouTube an anti-Islam film that sparked protests across the Muslim world.

By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Google’s claim that removing the film “Innocence of Muslims” amounted to a preemptive ban on speech that violated the U.S. Constitution.

The plaintiff, Cindy Lee Garcia, had objected to the film after learning that it contained a clip she had shot and partially dubbed for another film in which she apparently asked: “Is your Mohammed a child molester?”

In a statement, Google said: “We completely disagree with this ruling and will take action against it.”

Cris Armenta, a lawyer for Garcia, said she was pleased with the decision.

“Instructing YouTube and Google to remove the film was the right decision,” Armenta said in an email. “The propaganda film is so radically different from anything Ms. Garcia could have imagined when the director told her she was being cast in the innocent adventure film.”

The controversial film, which was announced as a trailer, portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a fool and a sexual pervert. It sparked a spate of anti-American riots among Muslims in Egypt, Libya and other countries in 2012.

This outbreak coincided with an attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. U.S. and other foreign embassies have also been stormed in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

For many Muslims, any depiction of the Prophet is considered blasphemy.

Despite pressure from the White House and others, Google refused to remove the film from YouTube. However, the company blocked the trailer in Egypt, Libya and several other countries.

In court documents, Google argued that Garcia appeared in the film for five seconds and that while she may have legal claims against the director, she should not win a copyright lawsuit against Google.

Google argued that the film had now become an important part of the public debate and should not be removed from the Internet.

“Our laws allow even the most vicious criticism of governments, political leaders and religious figures as a legitimate exercise of free speech,” the company wrote.

However, Garcia argued that her performance in the film was copyrighted regardless of the copyright and that she still had claims to that copyright.

A lower court had rejected her request that Google remove the film from YouTube. In his ruling Wednesday, however, 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said Garcia was likely to succeed in her copyright infringement claim and, since she has already experienced “serious death threats,” she faces irreparable harm without an injunction.

He called it a rare and disturbing case, given how Garcia was defrauded. “It is disappointing, though perhaps not surprising, that Garcia had to sue to protect herself and her rights,” he wrote.

The case is Garcia v. Google Inc et al., 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 12-57302.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by David Gregorio, G Crosse and Dan Grebler)