"Viacom Sues YouTube Over Copyrights"

[GreenPartyVoter]

NEW YORK (AP) - MTV owner Viacom Inc. (VIAB) sued the popular video-sharing site YouTube and its corporate parent, Google Inc. (GOOG), 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.

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20070313/D8NRBR7O1.html

[Deep13]

1. Per big media: It is a source of information and entertainment besides us.

KILL IT!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

2. great investment google...

Remove all the copyrighted material from YouTube and what is left that will have any mass appeal?

[BlooInBloo]

4. One might conjecture that that was Google's entire goal.

[msongs]

8. so what if there is nothing that appeals to them asses oops the masses?

youtube became popular because of grassroots kind of postings, not using clips from oldies sitcoms and political reviews.

it will still prosper.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[HughBeaumont]

3. Just like VCRs killed the movies and cassettes killed the music business.

I suppose Viacom wants to outlaw libraries next.

Seriously, where does real life stop and the Onion begin???

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27696

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43029

RIAA Bans Telling Friends About Songs

The Recording Industry Association of America announced Tuesday that it will be taking legal action against anyone discovered telling friends, acquaintances, or associates about new songs, artists, or albums. "We are merely exercising our right to defend our intellectual properties from unauthorized peer-to-peer notification of the existence of copyrighted material," a press release signed by RIAA anti-piracy director Brad Buckles read. "We will aggressively prosecute those individuals who attempt to pirate our property by generating 'buzz' about any proprietary music, movies, or software, or enjoy same in the company of anyone other than themselves." RIAA attorneys said they were also looking into the legality of word-of-mouth "favorites-sharing" sites, such as coffee shops, universities, and living rooms.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. That is a great piece!

[Giant Robot]

6. I have YouTube playing at work often

So that I can have some music I LIKE playing here. Now one of my favorite songs/videos has been taken down, I believe by Viacom's order, of an obscure 80's new wave band The Bolshoi. Thanks. Who the fuck cares that this video is being play and watched, most likely only by me, and if they do care, quite frankly, its free advertising. You know, get people talking about it so they want to buy CD's concert tickets, t-shirts, and what not? Am I the only one who sees You Tube as good advertising for these people. Oh yeah, and it fucks with my day that I can't hear "TV Man" any more.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. I am hopeful they come to an agreement like so many other media giants have.

[HughBeaumont]

9. It's like, what does Viacom care about videos no longer played on their channel?

And if I'm paying for digital cable AND broadband, why does it MATTER where I watch it? Viacom is still getting their money somehow.

You want another beyond-belief but true example of entertainment corporation greed? I carve fake pumpkins for halloween and display them at my house. I used to go to a certain website to get ready-made patterns for cartoon characters and some for horror figures. You guessed it: Disney, WB, Viacom, Marvel, DC Comics, etc. sent their attorneys to all of these sites last year and ordered them to take their property down, citing that the reproductions "cheapen the uniqueness of the character" (you know, because Disneyworld isn't a giant Mickey Mouse brothel or anything). I mean, who cares if they do this? It's not like I can't go to Google images, get a photo of X-men and make a pattern of it.

Oh, it gets much . . . MUCH worse. Apparently, from what the webmasters of these sites got from the attorneys, even displaying the pumpkins in the privacy of your own HOME is illegal. If you're a kid, technically, you can't doodle Batman without permission of DC's attorneys. It's along the same lines as corporations making day-care centers paint their walls because of artist renderings of their characters: they viewed that as a violation of intellectual property.

Obviously, I still display these things even though it's "illegal". I mean, what's going to happen - are these guys going to send their goons to comb houses on Halloween and shut me down? I just can't do newspaper stories. Big whoop.

But is that Onion story above all that much off the mark?

Scary.

[cboy4]

10. I don't get how Viacom doesn't look at this as great, free

publicity for its programming?

Certainly people are seeing this stuff and purchasing it.

Also, I could be wrong, but I don't see how they are going to prevail in court if it's individuals who are posting these clips and not Google, Inc. itself.