Viacom sues YouTube for $1,000,000,000.

[Bwelch]

NEW YORK (AP) -- MTV owner Viacom Inc. sued the popular video-sharing site YouTube and its corporate parent, Google Inc., on Tuesday, seeking more than $1 billion in damages on claims of widespread copyright infringement.

Viacom claims that YouTube has displayed more than 160,000 unauthorized video clips from its cable networks, which also include Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, marks a sharp escalation of long-simmering tensions between Viacom and YouTube and represents the biggest confrontation to date between a major media company and the hugely popular video-sharing site, which Google bought in November for $1.76 billion.

YouTube's soaring popularity has been a cause of fascination but also fear among the owners of traditional media outlets, who worry that YouTube's displaying of clips from their programs -- without compensation -- will lure away viewers and ad dollars from cable and broadcast TV.

Viacom is especially at risk because much of its programming is aimed at younger audiences who also are heavy Internet users.

Last month Viacom demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips after several months of talks between the companies broke down.

YouTube said at the time that it would comply with the request and said it cooperates with all copyright holders to remove programming as soon as they're notified.

In a statement, Viacom lashed out at YouTube's business practices, saying it has "built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google."

Viacom said YouTube's business model, "which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws."

Viacom said YouTube has avoided taking the initiative to curtail copyright infringement on its site, instead shifting the burden and costs of monitoring the video-sharing site for unauthorized clips onto the "victims of its infringement."

A representative for Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other media companies have also clashed with YouTube over copyrights, but some, including CBS Corp. and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, have reached deals with the video-sharing site to license their material. CBS Corp. used to be part of Viacom but has since split off into a separate company.

Universal Music Group, a unit of France's Vivendi SA, had threatened to sue YouTube, saying it was a hub for pirated music videos, but later reached a licensing deal with the company.

In addition to damages, Viacom is also seeking an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from using its clips.

Google shares dropped $4.82, or 1.1 percent, to $449.93 in Tuesday morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while Viacom's Class B shares rose 43 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $40 on the New York Stock Exchange.

[The Blackrose]

This is going to hurt Viacom in more ways than they could think of if Google takes particular avenues of attack.

[Scythiroth]

Lawsuits seem to be the only way to make money in the present. I need to find someone to sue. ;/

[Bwelch]

Oh,source.

:D...

[Nighty]

I been noticing the error message: " This video has been removed due to Viacom copyright laws." Or a message along those lines. Damn and most of those vids were good too =\

Google will win anyway because people upload the videos youtube only hosts them. Just like uploading to a FTP server and everyone else downloading it from the server.

[Vinen]

This is going to hurt Viacom in more ways than they could think of if Google takes particular avenues of attack.

Like what? From what I see there is a pretty solid case for Viacom.

Then again!... I could list plenty of reasons why Viacom is fucking retarded... but, I won't.

[Septimus]

This is going to hurt Viacom in more ways than they could think of if Google takes particular avenues of attack.

Like what? From what I see there is a pretty solid case for Viacom.

Then again!... I could list plenty of reasons why Viacom is fucking retarded... but, I won't.

Google could stop displaying links to any site owned or associated with Viacom. What good is it to have an internet site if no one goes to it?

[Not Kuno]

This is going to hurt Viacom in more ways than they could think of if Google takes particular avenues of attack.

Like what? From what I see there is a pretty solid case for Viacom.

Then again!... I could list plenty of reasons why Viacom is fucking retarded... but, I won't.

I dont think he meant that Viacom is gonna lose. But more like the super huge megazord corperation suing a smaller one, the costs on Viacoms part is gonna be huge. Reminds me of when McDonalds sued like 2 guys who defended themselves in court and McDonalds spent a huge shitfuckton of dollars on the court stuff.

[Devek]

This is going to hurt Viacom in more ways than they could think of if Google takes particular avenues of attack.

Like what? From what I see there is a pretty solid case for Viacom.

Then again!... I could list plenty of reasons why Viacom is fucking retarded... but, I won't.

How is there a solid case?

When has youtube ever advertised itself as a way to infringe copyright?
When has youtube ever promoted a copyrighted video?
When has youtube ever not bent over backwards to comply with takedown notices?
When has youtube not been used for stuff besides copyright infringement?

This isn't a solid case at all, this is bullshit. This is greed on Viacom's part and I suggest you boycot everything from them.. not that any of us give a fuck about mtv now anyway,

If Viacom is pissed they should go after the people that post the videos, that would be the fair and proper thing to do but the people who post the videos are not made out of money.

I think Viacom is LYING. I think the media companies are not upset that people are posting copyrighted material on youtube. I think the media companies are scared that people are making their own videos and posting them on youtube.

The media companies have controlled all the distributation channels in the past and have made insane profits by controlling what we get to see and hear and telling us what we are supposed to like. With youtube ANYONE can create content and we can watch it.

The music industry specifically is in trouble. It is just a matter of time before new bands simply stop signing with labels and all stay independent. Someday all bands will be uploading their videos to youtube and sites like it for exposure and viacom will be the one getting sued for copyright infringement if they want to play any new music videos

New bands can also get exposure on internet radio stations and the same companies that are trying to bring down youtube have also passed laws in congress that have increased the cost of running an internet radio station so high that many of them are going to shut down.

Rather than keep their business up to day with modern business models and providing services that people demand they are going to use all legal means to destroy anything that threatens it.

The sooner we stop buying their shit the sooner we don't have to deal with them anymore.

[The Blackrose]

[quote=Not Kuno]

This is going to hurt Viacom in more ways than they could think of if Google takes particular avenues of attack.

Like what? From what I see there is a pretty solid case for Viacom.

Then again!... I could list plenty of reasons why Viacom is fucking retarded... but, I won't.

I dont think he meant that Viacom is gonna lose. But more like the super huge megazord corperation suing a smaller one, the costs on Viacoms part is gonna be huge. Reminds me of when McDonalds sued like 2 guys who defended themselves in court and McDonalds spent a huge shitfuckton of dollars on the court stuff.[/quote:8826b]

Bingo.

Septimus is also correct.

[Scythiroth]

The music industry specifically is in trouble. It is just a matter of time before new bands simply stop signing with labels and all stay independent. Someday all bands will be uploading their videos to youtube and sites like it for exposure and viacom will be the one getting sued for copyright infringement if they want to play any new music videos

Ahhh, that will be a good day. I hope that kind of thing happens in my life time.

PS: Fuck you Viacom.

[Devek]

Oh ya.. Forgot to mention.

Google also knew this was going to happen. The lawsuits against youtube were inevitable and this lawsuit will set a huge president.

Right now the DMCA(an illegal law, yet a law nonetheless) protects sites like youtube under the safe harbor provisions. If the media companies can find a way around safe harbor the results are ... scary for any company that hosts third party content.

Google specifically bought youtube so that they could be a party in this fight and by putting some money into them it would provoke the fight and cause it to happen a little sooner. Smart move since the outcome of this eventually lawsuit was going to effect them they decided they wanted a say in it

This case is going to be HUGE. Google can NOT settle or they are going to have to line up to start handing out cash left and right to companies. Google has the law on their side and I hope they absolutely thrash Viacom.

[Fhqwghads]

The thing that boggles my mind is how YouTube is a huge way for cable shows to get free exposure. User ratings and comments, embedded videos on other sites to YouTube hosted media, it all adds up to a great way to spread the word about shows. YouTube only allows 10 minutes of video, so people either have to upload a half hour series in parts, meaning users have to scour the site for an entire episode, or they (more commonly) show 5-10 minute clips of show highlights.

All these morons are doing really is shooting themselves in the foot. I just find it hard to believe that these idiotic companies refuse to embrace internet technology and run with the ball and figure out a way for it to profit them, as opposed to donning the corporate asshole hat and try to stomp it all out. The article even stated that they're aware of the younger set of consumers who are very net savvy being their target demographic. How the hell do they expect to appeal to those customers when they're trying their damnedest to shut the doors on all the preferred methods to access content?

These old corporate conglomerates need to review who's on their boards, and just boot anyone off who's over 45. It's painfully obvious they're completely out of touch with what's going on around them.

[Daahan]

Why am I not surprised?

Viacomm: We're going to sue YouTube for....1 MILLION DOLLARS!! *Pinky to the lips*

Google: uhhhh, Dr. Viacomm...1 million isn't exactly a lot of money these days.

[Hitoshura]

Isn't Google insanely rich though? I'm not trying to imply they are bigger than McD's but you figure the world's most popular search engine would be dancing in monies..

[Kurokikaze]

I remember reading somewhere that Google was worth about 66 billion. Not sure though...

[Zilong]

Google is the side of justice.

YOU CAN'T SUE JUSTICE GODDAMMIT!

[Devek]

Google's market cap: $139.97 billion
Viacom's market cap: $27.61 billion

[½pint]

I saw this reply on slashdot and thought that it really hit the nail on the head:

They [Google] were expecting this EXACT thing to happen. Google wants to pick this fight. Let's look at the history.

1. Google Hires a well, known lobbyist firm to represent them. [searchenginewatch.com]
2. Google Buys YouTube even though everyone under the sun knows that makes them a target for litigation.



Why would they do it? Because this case will dictate and set precedent for the future of this business model. Google was already going in the direction of online video, but YouTube had a better userbase. Google couldn't afford to let YouTube to get sued into oblivion by some huge multinational media giant. It was in Google's best interest to buy the company and fight this fight with their resources instead of letting an underfunded (relatively) startup set the precedent.

Now, can they pull it off?

[Kurokikaze]

Google's market cap: $139.97 billion
Viacom's market cap: $27.61 billion

I see... Didn't expect Google to be worth more than Viacom. O_O