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Viacom goes after Google for YouTube infringements

Published on 13th March 2007 by Wil Harris

Will Google's YouTube take a kicking over the Viacome copyright lawsuit?

There's been another development in the saga of the spat between YouTube and Viacom.

Previously, Viacom asked Google to remove all videos taken from its media properties from the video sharing site. Viacom had failed to reach a deal with the search giant that it felt handed over enough dosh, so pulled the plug on all clips on the site. Viacom is a media giant, which owns properties such as Comedy Central and MTV, along with its hit shows South Park and The Daily Show, both stalwarts of the most popular videos list on YouTube.

Viacom took its videos and posted them all on its own site, hoping to attract eyeballs. Meanwhile, YouTube has been continuing with its policy of removing videos following a DMCA takedown request - whilst implementing pro-active filtering for its commercial partners.

Having decreed that it was unfair for Google to uphold copyright law only for those who entered into a commercial lawsuit, Viacom has gone further and has now sued Google for damages. Following the $1.65bn acquisition of YouTube, rumour has it that Google set aside a $500m 'war chest' for paying off copyright owners and fighting lawsuits. Viacom is after a Dr Evil-esque $1bn in damages, which could rip through that pile of cash and put a significant dent in even Google's finances.

Viacom says that the damages relate to the playback of over 160,000 separate videos that were hosted on YouTube. Have you seen any of them, and what do you think of YouTube's chances now the lawsuits are kicking in? Let us know your thoughts over in the forums.

22 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Godboy_g 13th March 2007, 16:41

I think lawsuits like this are ridiculous!

With the size of the userbase that watch youtube, Viacom could be using it as a tool to advertise their shows for little to no cash out of pocket. Instead they are wasting money trying to extort cash out of google.

_DTM2000_ 13th March 2007, 16:41

I have no idea how much revenue Viacom has lost due to the low quality snipits of video on YouTube but something tells me it's no where near $1bn. On the flip side, I wonder how much money Viacom have earned due to people seeing their shows on YouTube and then going out and buying the DVD because they want to see the full length full quality version.

Buzzons 13th March 2007, 16:48

or just getting the torrent?

streaming video like that is bad, it brings piracy to the n00b and makes it far too easy to get hold of. I personally think that youTube should remove all content like that, and sites like alluc should be taken down as well.

synapse1337 13th March 2007, 16:55

At the same time though, alluc and youtube bring some of those shows to international viewers. I for one was abroad in Paris for a while and it's the only way to view them.

I think Godboy_g is onto something with advertising. Google could set Youtube up like adult swim... i.e. 15 second commercials in between every 7 minutes of video. The owners of the video could then choose the commercial or something.

It's good publicity, it's just that the execution isn't so great.

Djpuk 13th March 2007, 17:16

Viacom obvioulsy have more money than sense, I would agree with DTM2000 and say that Youtube exposure actually improves viewing figures and sales of the affected shows. They more than likely know this as well but it seems that US companies have an addiction to lawsuits that nothing can fuel, hey why make better shows or products to make money when you can just get it by taking real innovators to court!

randosome 13th March 2007, 18:22

hahahahahahaha

this totally reminds me of the south park episode, with the law case "everyone vs everyone"

Hold on a second, they might sue me for just mentioning this, i mean it is revealing some of their IP without paying for it

ralph.pickering 13th March 2007, 18:57

I seriously hope Viacom fall flat on their noses with this one, greedy sodding *******s... although realistically I think it'll just be one more boring out of court settlement.

DarkLord7854 13th March 2007, 19:23

It'd be nice if Google/YouTube could acquire a copyright license thing like Wikipedia, where all content is not the responsibility of Google/YouTube but of the individual users

Preti9cboi 13th March 2007, 19:57

Google should clip on a 15 sec ad before every single video.

Kipman725 13th March 2007, 21:27

well I am unable to actualy watch any of there shows apart from on you tube/Bit torrnet/IRC/usenet and certianly woulden't subscribe to any paid tv service above the already exorbidant tv licence. So they can deduct that from there 1BN to start with ;)

Tyinsar 13th March 2007, 21:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Preti9cboi
Google should clip on a 15 sec ad before every single video.

NOOOOOooooooooo Yahoo already does that - I Hate it.

DXR_13KE 13th March 2007, 21:50

how do these guys calculate these monstrous amounts of cash?????

Quote:

Originally Posted by Preti9cboi
Google should clip on a 15 sec ad before every single video.

15 sec ad before a 10 second video that shows a cat exploding.......

randosome 13th March 2007, 21:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE
how do these guys calculate these monstrous amounts of cash?????

they take the distance from the earth to the sun, multiply it by the speed of light squared add bill gates pocket change and bam, you have a figure

Tyinsar 13th March 2007, 22:10

Really? - I thought it was related to the cube root of the speed of light through lime green jello times the volume of the universe (as measured in Jello packets)

... plus Bill Gates pocket change (nice addition randsome ;) )

Though in reality I suspect it has something to do with "how much will it take to make headlines and get attention?"

randosome 13th March 2007, 22:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyinsar
Though in reality I suspect it has something to do with "how much will it take to make headlines and get attention?"

maybe they were just watching Austin powers and thought - hey lets try that

Tulatin 13th March 2007, 22:44

Honestly, i'm SO sure they're losing trillions by people watching clips of their shows. Oh noes, i saw four minutes of the new south park! now i'll never buy the dvd. Seriously, idiots they are.

sui_winbolo 13th March 2007, 22:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tulatin
Honestly, i'm SO sure they're losing trillions by people watching clips of their shows. Oh noes, i saw four minutes of the new south park! now i'll never buy the dvd. Seriously, idiots they are.

QFT.

Viacom is like the RIAA, all they do is bitch & moan.

randosome 13th March 2007, 23:07

you tube is such low quality anyway that most stuff is only OK to watch, and a lot of stuff is just downright unpleasant to watch

Neogumbercules 14th March 2007, 01:53

I go to Youtube to watch the political stuff with the "libertarian anarchist" tweens crying about *insert ridiculous topic here*

Aankhen 14th March 2007, 02:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE
how do these guys calculate these monstrous amounts of cash?????

Here's an inside look into the process of determining damages:

Grab some paper and pencil.
Write down "Piracy kills kittens".
Put a "1" just below the "P".
Put a "0" after the "1".
Put down another "0".
Repeat the previous step until you reach the "s".

DriftCarl 14th March 2007, 09:33

I watch the daily show on youtube because I cant see it any other way. Watching small funny clips of south park encourages me to catch it on TV more often.
I never watch full length shows on youtube because 1. they are very low quality and 2. my TV is bigger and has better sound and 3. I dont have to wait for it to load on TV.

I watch original content mostly on youtube from bloggers and ingame footage of new games. Sometimes footie highlights and other random stuff.

Viacom is doing more damage than good, I suspect they are doing this just as mainly a PR stunt. Evidence of this is in the amount of money they want, 1 billion dollars? Thats a bit excessive since youtube has only 70 million users watching vids each month. Besides there are only ever 1 or 2 viacom productions in the most watched list at any 1 time, and they are never full length shows.

f00dl3 15th March 2007, 03:12

Just shut the effing Internet down already. Having an open community where anyone can add content, publish content, and create content encourages piracy.