[Infowarrior] - Viacom in $1 bln copyright suit vs Google, YouTube

[Richard Forno]

Viacom in $1 bln copyright suit vs Google, YouTube
Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:46am ET31

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Media conglomerate Viacom Inc. said on Tuesday that it
was suing Google Inc. and its Internet video-sharing site YouTube for more
than $1 billion over unauthorized use of its programming online.

The lawsuit, the biggest challenge to date to Google's ambitions to make
YouTube into a major vehicle for advertising and entertainment, accuses the
Web search leader and its unit of "massive intentional copyright
infringement."

Viacom filed the suit with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District
of New York, seeking more than $1 billion in damages and an injunction
against further violations.

Viacom contends that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of its programming
have been uploaded onto YouTube's site and viewed more than 1.5 billion
times.

"YouTube's strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the
infringement on its site," Viacom said in a statement. "Their 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 its decision to sue Google followed "a great deal of
unproductive negotiation" with the company.

Representatives for Google and YouTube were not immediately available.

Google shares fell 0.8 percent to $451.12 in early Nasdaq trade. Viacom
Class B shares were down 1 percent at $39.15 on the New York Stock Exchange.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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