May 27, 2008
Internet communication threatened – YouTube faces lawsuit
Copyright infringement lawsuits are lately the main activity that keeps some companies (music and movie industry in particular) busy. It’s now YouTube's turn to face such a threat ($1 billion worth) due to its indulgence regarding copyrighted material existing on its video-sharing site as Yahoo News reports.
Filing the lawsuit is Viacom Inc, a company which has a history of allegations against YouTube and Google for having encouraged "an explosion of copyright infringement." Viacom claimed compensation last month on the grounds that YouTube persistently allows illegitimate copies of popular TV shows and films to be posted on its Web site and viewed countless time.
Allegedly, the company acknowledged over 150,000 such unauthorized clips as being posted and viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times." Among the illegally distributed programs Viacom mentions "SpongeBob SquarePants," "South Park" and "MTV Unplugged" series and the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth"
Google promptly responded saying that Viacom’s urge to make carriers and hold providers accountable for Internet communications hinders the freedom of people to legitimately share material regardless the artistic, political or informative nature it has.
Google’s lawyers forwarded papers to a judge late Friday stating that YouTube "goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works."
Filed under Announcements & Events, File-Sharing Programs, Networks & Services, Legal P2P News & Issues by admin
