Posted on 03/13/2007 7:24:45 AM PDT by HAL9000
NEW YORK - MTV owner Viacom Inc. said Tuesday it has sued YouTube and its corporate parent Google Inc. in federal court for alleged copyright infringement and is seeking more than $1 billion in damages.Viacom claims that the more than 160,000 unauthorized video clips from its cable networks, which also include Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon, have been available on the popular video-sharing Web site.
The lawsuit marks a sharp escalation of long-simmering tensions between Viacom and YouTube. Last month Viacom demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips after several months of talks between the companies broke down.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
We're talking clips as in small segments of film? Same as posting snippets of articles? Sorry, I don't see how Viacom has a leg to stand on.
Ho hum....another money grab from a company with content and not a single clue as to how to deliver it to the masses.
looks like the founders of youtube cashed out at the right time.
Viacom is simply trying to make Google purchase them.
Google probably will.
This will kill YouTube.
Just about every vid I see on YouTube uses copyrighted music or a clip or something.
And does Viacom really think YOuTube is hurting them? Sheesh.
they have a huge leg to stand on. Entire music videos get posted there as well as clips from tv shows.
This copyright stuff is ridiculous. I'm all for intellectual property rights, but youtube is crappy video quality of stuff people won't otherwise get to see, because it was live broadcast of something that won't be played again, or an old music video that hasn't seen the light of day on MTV in years.
Why does it even matter? I mean, it's not as if you can call up Viacom and give them your credit card number and get old 80s metal videos...
See post 8.
Most of the music videos on youtube haven't been played on MTV in 20 years - why do they care?
But now it seems that every spare show is now getting released on DVD. That's what the issue is, potential losses in DVD sales.
YouTube makes Viacom money. Every time somebody watches a 30 second clip from say South Park or the Daily Show and likes it, they are more likely to start watching that program. YouTube is giving them a tremendous amount of free advertising.
No jury in the world would find for Viacom. EVERYONE uses Youtube.
OK...so SOME of the content is available that way...but is the "Comedy Central Shatner Roast" on DVD? The video for Europe's "The Final Countdown?"
whts that now like 2 shares of google
why dont the censor boys just pay and laugh
But you could watch entire SP episodes on YouTube, that's what they had a problem with.
As Jumped-The-Shark as Google is, I was surprised when they bought YouTube: I thought it was the first stupid move I've seen them make.
The only way this could be better is if Sony were also getting sued, somehow.
Doesn't matter, it's Viacom's property. Can I take your old neckties and piles of National Geographic magazines just because they're gathering dust in your house? No wait, don't answer that! ;)
who cares about viacom clips when you can watch "Hobo with a Shotgun"
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hobo+shotgun+trailer+contest&search=Search
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