Google: Viacom Uploaded to YouTube While Complaining About Infringement
In the opening briefs in a case between two media giants that is widely seen as a critical test of the Digital Milennium Copyright Act, each side accuses the other of playing dirty pool in a battle to call the winning shots concerning the use of video materials in the social networking game.
On one side of the table, Google Inc. accuses Viacom Inc. of having “continuously and secretly” uploaded videos from its copyrighted shows to YouTube even as the entertainment conglomerate publicly denounced YouTube for permitting such infringing use of its website, according to Reuters.
On the other, Viacom contends in court documents that “Google and YouTube were not just innocent and unwitting accomplices to infringement perpetrated by YouTube users,” but instead “operated YouTube with the unlawful objective of using infringing material to explosively build their user base and become the dominant video website on the Internet.”
Viacom, which seeks $1 billion in damages for YouTube’s alleged infringement in a federal lawsuit filed two years ago in the Southern District of New York, argues that YouTube had actual knowledge of copyright violations and did not step in to stop the infringement. However, Google says copyright owners must notify the website of unauthorized material before it is obligated to act, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Additional coverage:
Company Town (Los Angeles Times): “Documents in Viacom’s $1-billion lawsuit against YouTube are unsealed”
The Tech Chronicles (San Francisco Chronicle): “Messy details emerge from Viacom, YouTube lawsuit”
