This one’s a doozy. Awhile back, Viacom sued YouTube, seeking $1 billion in damages for knowingly allowing copyright infringement to take place. The lawsuit was filed after talks between the video streaming service and the content giant fell apart.
Both sides have begun making their arguments publicly as certain documents are now available to the public, and both sides have some pretty damning evidence, as ArsTechnica reports.
Viacom has offered up examples of YouTube and Google executives being notified or discussing the amount of pirated content on the site, with the 80 percent illegal content number popping up regularly. If executives were relying on infringing uses to power the site’s popularity, it could cause them serious legal issues.
On the other hand, YouTube says in a blog post that at the same time Viacom was preparing the lawsuit, they were also uploading content in a variety of covert ways, and even issuing takedown notices on content they themselves had uploaded (and then asking for that content to be restored). YouTube claims that they had up to 18 third-party marketing firms uploading content for them and even making the video look less official to make it seem like some random person was uploading it instead. It got so confusing, YouTube notes, that at one point Viacom’s official channel was suspended over copyright infringement claims. With that much confusion, YouTube concludes, how were they supposed to know which were valid clips and which weren’t?
It’s a big case, at the same level as the Napster and Grokster music cases, but it’s also quite revealing… it’ll be fun to see how this one turns out.
UPDATED 3/19 at 5 p.m. to clarify the trial itself hasn’t started, but information has become public.
SOURCE: Ars Technica
