I think that Viacom is barking up the wrong tree. YouTube and Google have done nothing wrong in how the operate.
They operate under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act where they remove infringing material when requested by the copyright holder. In fact, Viacom screwed up and screwed some posters when they requested a bunch of infringing material be removed and they requested that YouTube remove material that had nothing to do with Viacom.
The issue is that people are posting shows from various Viacom properties. In the suit, has Viacom been damaged from this posting by people who love these shows? I doubt it. In fact, I bet that Viacom is seeing an increase in their viewership because more people are watching their shows because they saw them on YouTube.
I hope this ends quickly in a settlement like YouTube has entered into agreements with other media companies, but I don’t think that is going to happen. YouTube/Google is ready to go to battle and in this copyright case they have a good chance of winning.
Read More:
- Copyright quagmire for Google and YouTube (CNET)
- How Strong is Viacom’s $1 bn Claim Against Google’s YouTube? (Seeking Alpha)
- [Google] The $1 Billion Viacom Lawsuit (The Geeky Guide to Nearly Everything)
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