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Google vs. Viacom

August 20th, 2007

Looks like the lawsuit between Viacom and Google is going to heat up as they start to name witnesses to bring to the trial.


For those unfamiliar with this story, Viacom, the media giant that owns Paramount, Comedy Central and other media companies, is suing YouTube owner Google in excess of $1 billion for encouraging users to put copyrighted materials on the YouTube service.

Google has asked that the Viacom employees and popular Comedy Central hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert be put on the witness stand. This request comes as a response to the huge popularity of clips from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on the video sharing site, that caused this legal stir to begin with. Viewers of Comedy Centeral’s The Colbert Report will remember the “Green Screen Challenge” from last year when Mr. Colbert asked his viewers to edit a green screen clip from his show and send it back for judging, encouraging them to upload the videos onto YouTube and make him a viral video star. Statements made in support of YouTube by both show hosts could cause some headaches for Viacom’s attorneys.

It could be a few years before this issue is resolved, since the dispute is now only in the early stages.

For more on this topic CNET has an article covering the details here

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Posted in General News on August 20th, 2007

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