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YouTube in trouble again

Written by Dave Horvath @ 13 Mar 2007 5:37 User comments (22)

YouTube in trouble again

Movie giant Viacom has been added to the most recent list of people suing Google and its recently acquired internet video website YouTube. What has been listed as "massive intentional copyright infringement", Viacom has entered a lawsuit in the amount of $1billion.
The suit claims that YouTube has infringed on their intellectual properties intentionally and seeks retribution of its assets and an injunction against further violations. Viacom claims that over 160,000 of its copyrighted material has been uploaded to YouTube and has been viewed over 1.5 billion times without their expressed consent.

Source:
Reuters

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22 user comments

113.3.2007 05:52
ripdox
Inactive

...

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 12 Sep 2007 @ 7:49

213.3.2007 05:58

F*ck Viacom...

313.3.2007 06:08

Yea, try PROVING that Google intentionally distributes copywritten work.

413.3.2007 06:30

Youtube wont be hurt by these for acoupl more years after the media mafia wears them down they will then kill them off.

513.3.2007 06:55

if even the US government couldnt fuck with google in court, i doubt viacom will be able to. google and youtube are set up as search engines, just because they link to copywritten work and copywritten work is uploaded BY USERS to youtube doesnt mean its intentional. by contrast, the law in america has been quite leanient on sites where users post things, even if some of those things are bad.

viacom is shouting in the dark, eveything google does is legal (razors edge legal, but still very much legal).

613.3.2007 07:02

Originally posted by georgeluv:
if even the US government couldnt fuck with google in court, i doubt viacom will be able to. google and youtube are set up as search engines, just because they link to copywritten work and copywritten work is uploaded BY USERS to youtube doesnt mean its intentional. by contrast, the law in america has been quite leanient on sites where users post things, even if some of those things are bad.

viacom is shouting in the dark, eveything google does is legal (razors edge legal, but still very much legal).
Incorrect youtube is a file viewing service that lets its members share videos of all kinds.

713.3.2007 07:33

if anyone wants to start breaking down youtube, they need to start suing the HELL out of the people who upload the copyrightd materials. then people would be too scared to upload when 1000's+ recieve court notice.

813.3.2007 07:41
STYL3N
Inactive

What a bunch of idiots.

If I had $1billion I would bet they use google on a daily basis.
I wouldn't be surprised if they had google as their homepage.

913.3.2007 09:19

Quote:
Incorrect youtube is a file viewing service that lets its members share videos of all kinds.
youtube still isnt the one providing the files, the users uploading them are. why do you think youtube is still standing? in the eyes of the law youtube is a neutral intermediary, and youtube does everything required of them by law. they take down files that people request taken down. if youtube is doing something so bad then why havent the swat team kicked in their doors? they are on american soil arent they it would take one day to get a warrant. the reason is cause google probably has the best grasp of internet law theory than anyone on earth, us government included. they have done nothing wrong, in the eyes of the law the users are the ones who have wronged.

Quote:
if anyone wants to start breaking down youtube, they need to start suing the HELL out of the people who upload the copyrighted materials. then people would be too scared to upload when 1000's+ receive court notice.
thats what fox did, im sure youtube hands the stuff over at the very instant the law requires them to and no sooner. and im also pretty sure that all the ip addys they get will be tor positive and in another country, uploading videos to youtube without being traced is infinitely easier than sharing them over p2p without being traced, its one of the reasons the media giants are so ape shit over youtube. the laws dont match what’s happening. google just found all the right loopholes, and ten years from now when bureaucracy finally catches up with reality they will have found 10 new loopholes. its the beauty of the information age we live in. if the people want it, they can have it, and someone will find a way to give it to them at the cheapest price possible. In our age that price is free because of website advertising and marketing data.

1013.3.2007 09:35

I agree that is a lot easier to share things through youtube, but you have to admit that users would have to use some kind of method to achieve this, i bet you 99% of youtube sharers doesnt even know they could get in trouble so they go right in posting with no method at all so chances are 99% of their ips and stuff are registered, so that would be no problem for them to lawsuit uploaders

besides and offtopic, its amazing what you can find on youtube as for sensitive material for copyright infrigements, i mean the otherday i was surfing the web all around looking for how to hack my xbox360 and had a hard time, i thought of looking on youtube, and i was amazed to find a video tutorial on how to do it it was like an epiphany come truth XD

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Mar 2007 @ 9:37

1113.3.2007 11:12

Originally posted by Gradical:
I agree that is a lot easier to share things through youtube, but you have to admit that users would have to use some kind of method to achieve this, i bet you 99% of youtube sharers doesnt even know they could get in trouble so they go right in posting with no method at all so chances are 99% of their ips and stuff are registered, so that would be no problem for them to lawsuit uploaders

besides and offtopic, its amazing what you can find on youtube as for sensitive material for copyright infrigements, i mean the otherday i was surfing the web all around looking for how to hack my xbox360 and had a hard time, i thought of looking on youtube, and i was amazed to find a video tutorial on how to do it it was like an epiphany come truth XD
Yeah, I agree.

1213.3.2007 14:18

How the hell do they intentionally infringe on copyright? all content is uploaded by users, google doesnt have any control over it.
I look at youtube kinda like a torrent site when it comes to legal matters, the sites concept is 100% legal but its up to users to upload legal files. So its kinda like people trying to get rid of thepiratebay.org its not going to happen.(though tpb does have the law on its side)

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Mar 2007 @ 2:19

1313.3.2007 15:35

all google has to do really is move to a more friendly venue ... pack up shop and say go to a more friendly atmosphere... wherever the courts are favoring them.

I really don't understand all this lawsuit madness ..its absurd ... and really adds no value or benefit for the massive corporations filing suit on google and others like it.

All these media giants are dinosaurs ... and are reluctant to adapt to the times ..where google is from today ..and tomorrow ... record companies ... news organizations ..ect ..are from yesterday ..and even yesteryear.

whats gonna happen ... people like you and me are beginning to get a bad taste in our mouths ...and leads to actual cursing and even avoidance of any particular brand that dares to infringe on today's and even tomorrows technology.

if anything ... all these dinosaurs should be praising google for leading users to their works ... because most of the people looking at these videos probably already have them...or have recorded them with dvr.

who is to say these 1billion viewers don't already own the license?

1413.3.2007 16:23

I'm feeling your reply, trainmmstr; I actually think the paradigm of of entertainment is evolving...or rather, returning to a place when people entertained themselves. I mean, look at YOU tube, MYspace, Ipod, etc.: rather than high paid models, actors and such, the attraction and success of those things is that the *individual* is the star (the director, the webmaster and the d.j., respectively).

Heck..why do we participate *here*: I don't know about anyone else, but I love the interactivity: instead of just sitting down vegetating in front of a tv set, here I can respond and add to the content. Right or wrong, I had a chance to have my say.

Finally, I think it's funny that Viacom wants to sue you tube when (if this is correct) it seems that Viacom is (yet to?) distribute (what I bet is) the same content free anyway!

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Mar 2007 @ 4:25

1514.3.2007 04:21

im also sure that one of the big reasons youtube still stands is because the us government WANTS youtube on american soil. google and youtube are the internets darlings, they produce thousands of high paying jobs and set a very high standard for quality of work environment and things like that, we dont want to give that up to canada. this might be the reason our government made those precident setting decisions earlier this year regaurding users who post to message boards and the board operators ability to be held liable for them.

isohunt, although doing nothing diferent than youtube, still got bullied into changing venues. i think this is becuase isohunt had pretty much no legitimate use, and only 1 or 2 guys were employed by it. we dont care if we force two copyright-anarchist nerds to canada.

1614.3.2007 16:27

Quote:
How the hell do they intentionally infringe on copyright? all content is uploaded by users, google doesnt have any control over it.
I look at youtube kinda like a torrent site when it comes to legal matters, the sites concept is 100% legal but its up to users to upload legal files. So its kinda like people trying to get rid of thepiratebay.org its not going to happen.(though tpb does have the law on its side)
Yeah! those where the exact words of the webmasters of suprnova.org
if you dont knew suprnova it was heaven on earth
better than eanything ever existed
:´(

1714.3.2007 20:04

yeah ... i agree with the jobs thing. Google is ..or will be to technology / internet as microsoft is to computers , Exxon to oil , ect. ect.

Sadly though, i feel as if congress will have to get involved ... which is hardly a good thing ..but will be necessary. Nowhere is it ...or has it been ok to file suit for billions of dollars.

As the dinosaur business models of the media giants continue to bleed money because of layers upon layers of bureaucracy and needless management ...the slimmed down ..even streamlined tech companies of today and the future are poised and capable of capturing the minds and hearts of all our and future generations. It wouldn't surprise me if someone like viacom would try to simply take over google ..and then with their old dinosaur ways ..run it into the ground.

Time for these media giants to get with the times ..or get out. they can't control the future of technology ... they might as well stop dreaming ..and praying for a san francisco federal district court to bail them out ..even the US Supreme court cant stop technology.

In this particular case ... common sense rules ... and the consumer dictates which direction it goes. Google is an innovative company to say the least ... and one might even go as far as saying they are the Benchmark of what a company should be ... its no accident they are so profitable ...and definitely no accident that other crap companies searching for ways to feed their wasteful ways are trying desperately to cash in on google. Google has become a target ..which is why i say congress will have to step in and do something.

1818.3.2007 00:36

This is b***s***, but I'm surprised google didn't see it coming when they bought youtube.

1918.3.2007 00:53

Originally posted by trainmstr:
yeah ... i agree with the jobs thing. Google is ..or will be to technology / internet as microsoft is to computers , Exxon to oil , ect. ect.

Sadly though, i feel as if congress will have to get involved ... which is hardly a good thing ..but will be necessary. Nowhere is it ...or has it been ok to file suit for billions of dollars.

As the dinosaur business models of the media giants continue to bleed money because of layers upon layers of bureaucracy and needless management ...the slimmed down ..even streamlined tech companies of today and the future are poised and capable of capturing the minds and hearts of all our and future generations. It wouldn't surprise me if someone like viacom would try to simply take over google ..and then with their old dinosaur ways ..run it into the ground.

Time for these media giants to get with the times ..or get out. they can't control the future of technology ... they might as well stop dreaming ..and praying for a san francisco federal district court to bail them out ..even the US Supreme court cant stop technology.

In this particular case ... common sense rules ... and the consumer dictates which direction it goes. Google is an innovative company to say the least ... and one might even go as far as saying they are the Benchmark of what a company should be ... its no accident they are so profitable ...and definitely no accident that other crap companies searching for ways to feed their wasteful ways are trying desperately to cash in on google. Google has become a target ..which is why i say congress will have to step in and do something.
All congress will do is pass century old laws to protect the industries in power and squash personal and fair market rights.

2018.3.2007 08:48

well all id expect them to do is make it much more difficult for patents to be acquired and set up some sort of federal mediator or even office to check the merit of such stupid lawsuits before they start to bog down large corporations.
Its easy to see ... these corporations are trying to wear down and bully google in hopes they just give up ...and an entity can only afford so many lawsuits.

2118.3.2007 08:54

Originally posted by trainmstr:
well all id expect them to do is make it much more difficult for patents to be acquired and set up some sort of federal mediator or even office to check the merit of such stupid lawsuits before they start to bog down large corporations.
Its easy to see ... these corporations are trying to wear down and bully google in hopes they just give up ...and an entity can only afford so many lawsuits.
Ya but such a mediation would side with 80% of the cases making them are good to go...is there a "working" governmental model that can look at a suit and determine if its valid or not?
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 18 Mar 2007 @ 9:05

2222.3.2007 03:17

all this is doin is givin google more free " positive " publicity and lookin after the normal people who use it and showin people that viacom really are stuck up their on backides while givin themselves " bad " publicity and puttin people off of viewin or usin their products. so good on google for lookin after their users and tellin the haters where to go.

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