Google: Viacom’s $1bn suit threatens Net
Viacom’s $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube “threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information” over the Web, YouTube parent Google said in a legal response to the suit. The response, reported by the Associated Press, was filed late Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Google says the threat comes from Viacom’s attempt to make “carriers and hosting providers” liable for what people post. Google, by the way, has said this suit will only be resolved in court. Viacom originally filed its lawsuit last year and filed an amended version last month. In the more recent version, the AP reported, Viacom said video-sharing site YouTube consistently allows popular, copyrighted material to be posted to its site, including from Viacom-owned MTV and Comedy Central.
Viacom said that it has identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips on YouTube that had been viewed “an astounding 1.5 billion times” and that the site has done “little or nothing” to stop the copyright infringement, the AP reported. “The availability on the YouTube site of a vast library of the copyrighted works of plaintiffs and others is the cornerstone of defendants’ business plan,” Viacom said, according to the AP. Google, in its response, said YouTube “goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works.” Google added that YouTube has faithfully followed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and responded to claims of infringement.
Source: AP, Cnet
Comments(34)
Lmao the guy in the pic looks stupid
Do you think now would be a good time to start running in small circles waving are arms about shouting “…the end of the world is nigh !!!” ?
Oh shame the big billion dollar company is upset cause ppl are viewing small clips of their stuff….
so lame
@3, yup crazy stuff, if anything having stuff on youtube is publicity
@4
I agree…and Im sure that Viacom is not above using youtube for viral marketing!!
They just upset that they cant make a buck off the site…although looking where we are posting we might have a bit of a biased view on these things….
Oh well stuff it
VIACOM = fail
yes watching short clips at a crappy 340×280 resolution is really cutting viewership of tv shows and sales of movies. Why go to a nice theatre with dolby surround sound when you can watch the video in grainy segments. I dont think anyone views youtube videos of what they like to skip the tv aired programs if anything it helps the show keep its fan base interested. They can search certain lines from their favorite shows and watch them that doesnt stop them from buying a dvd or watching the show. Now sites like rlslog… thats another story.
@1
The guy in the pic looks like you.
Another fruitless attempt of viamcom.
TV is doomed anyway.
To bad google isn’t a euro company because they had a 50% discount in euros
lol just had the spam protection wrong
Oh shame the big billion dollar company is upset cause ppl are viewing small clips of their stuff….
so lame
—————————-
Exactly
Absolutely agree with steve. When you sue for copyright infringement you can only be awarded lost potential income. So as YouTube generally doesn’t host whole programs it’s going to be very difficult for Viacom to argue they’ve been deprived of money because of it. Excluding maybe the ad revenue of any page with a clip of theirs on it.
Honestly these monks need to die, getting shoved money up their ass 24/7 and now starting to f*ck with one of the webs most visited website.. Holy sh*t, some people have problems that I’d like to have.
I say the Viacom is a giant nerd. They posted once infringement against my game trailer video. They even don’t have they own channel on YouTube. So why do they bother with that. Except Electronic Arts, no one is having that big problem with copyright on YouTube. Even if people would upload videos that are normally availible on sites that are involved with Viacom they would sue. And one last thing. They also often post copyright infringement related to USER-MADE VIDEOS!!!! Just see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po-FbyijMHA and related videos.
@ #6
…
Viacom = E—P—I—C F—A—I—L
Here is how you solve all these out of control court cases, Make the plantif sign an agreement that if they lose their case in court, THEY are liable for the damages (money) they are asking for. And have to pay it to the defendant. I would call that taking responsibility for your own actions.
There is a way to do business and a way to screw people, don’t be fooled because youtube is a free service, they profit a lot with their banners and general advertisement through the entire website. They are trying to make as if they are being a victim, they are not, they are making money hands over fist.
If Viacom or anyone gets a piece of the youtube/google pie, so be it. Price of doing business…
I wish I was that “stupid” looking guy. I wouldn’t mind having 300+ million dollars.
screw viacom, bunch of greedy bastards
I, … I don’t know what to say.
I mean, people just sue each other for all the stupid little things (or in this case – big stupid thing wich is just silly to consider this thing ‘big’), next we’ll have cows suing their servants for not waxing their behinds shiny enough!
What has world coming to??
These kind of ‘important’lawsuits are being thoroughly processed, and those when little people aka not very important are being on trial then it’s like: “Let’s make this black boy an example to all others” so, without questioning his guiltiness, they fry his ass to the slam where probably all his homies are already there.
I mean – I ain’t racist or black, I just like to speak…
Wasn’t that black guy Martin Luther King who fought for freedom of speech?
(Or was it freedom for blacks…)
—GREETINGS FROM TEXAS—
viacom is the devil
Viacom greedy? Google are making lots of money with Youtube and Viacom just want a share of the money that’s all.
As a result of watching various YouTube clips i have gone out and bought various DVDs – YouTube is a handy way to get interested in a movie or a series and check it out a bit before buying.
Hang on guys – YouTube was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion (in Google stock)
If all copyrighted content was removed from YT, there would be very little left there. So, traffic would drop and the website would certainly be worth no where near $1.65 billion.
The Google parasite has deep pockets and it’s time for them to cough some cash!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m fairly sure that Youtube offer their big users a share of the ad revenues generated by their content. At least they discussed that previously.
Also, the smartest move for Viacom would probably be making an agreement with Youtube through which they get part of the revenue from ads that they post on their “channel”. Not only would this give Viacom some money in their pocket, it would also lower the amount of Viacom clips posted by other users.
Add this together with increased publicity and consumer goodwill and I bet they would have a lot to gain, especially in higher DVD sales.
@24
I was thinking the same as you. If Viacom had their own channel on youtube, they could potentially profit from it.
am i the only one who uses youtube only to watch hot chicks shake their asses. not really anything interesting on that site. dont know why it gets so many people on it
Viacom doesn’t want their stuff on YouTube because they have their own online video sites such as http://www.thedailyshow.com, so they’re well aware of the benefits of putting their videos online.
They just want to keep 100% of the ad revenue for themselves.
Except they don’t actually make money from posting their videos online, which is what the writers strike was all about.
So on one hand they’re saying they’re losing money hand over fist because of Youtube, but on the other they’re telling their writers there was never any money to be made in the first place.
I’m confused.
The most probable reasons that they want their own site are probably that they want some DRM protection, ads in the middle of the video and restrict access depending on the viewer’s location. On top of that the managers/finance department most likely don’t appreciate the cost of running a high bandwidth server.
Even if they do succeed in making YouTube remove all their content and launch their own site, I can’t really see myself watching their site unless it’s as simple as youtube, allowing me to fast forward and backward in the clip and send the link to friends as easily.
F#ck Viacom … I’ll make sure I’ll download Comedy Central and MTV sh!t instead of buying it. They’re going down – mark my words – just as SCO. Fight “the people” and loose, you $$$-MoFo’s …
I can’t believe any poster would defend Google here.
They absolutely knew what they were getting in to when they bought Youtube.The wink and nod towards the big media companies about copyright infringement was all BS by Google.
Not that the media companies are exempt from scorn,as they deserve a bunch.To act like google isn’t deserving of some here is ridiculous.
“Google says the threat comes from Viacom’s attempt to make “carriers and hosting providers” liable for what people post.”
Notice what they didn’t say in that statement:Who was liable.
They try to say it shouldn’t be their fault,so who do you think they want Viacom to blame?
leave youtube alone viacom you big bully
@ GrendelNorm
Well if Viacom loses this Google(Youtube) can counter-sue them for emotional damages and probably get more than a billion
hehe
Screw Viacom. They should be paying Google for the free publicity.
I hate to break it to you all, but Viacom DOES have their own channel on YouTube. I think they have commenting disabled on their page though, after receiving several thousand “F U” types of comments from other users who had their videos deleted thanks to Viacoms complaints.
@26 thizzle – No, you’re not the only one. There are many brain dead idiots like you who have all the class of a trailer park garbage dumpster.
@30 gunnersfan – Oh, just STFU a$$hole.