GoogleWatch , one of my fav blogs about one of my fav resources, reported today on the $1billion lawsuit served to Google by Viacom . And so did almost every other news network around. I found over 1400 stories on it...this one is big it seems. One of the main rumblings I heard about the YouTube boys selling to Google was fear of a huge lawsuit, which they didn't have the funds to fight, but Google does. Hmmm.
However, what I liked about the GoogleWatch story is the "18 reasons why Google & YouTube Are Guilty of Copyright Infringement." It gives a new perspective on it, and as someone who really loves YouTube (I've found a lot of great videos from my home country on there), it's an eye opener. You can read the complete article on GoogleWatch here , but here are the Top 5 infringements listed.
1: YouTube's value is largely based on infringing works.
2: Google maintains control over YouTube's business, and contributes to YouTube's infringement by syncing Google Video search with YouTube's library.
3: Although individual users are the ones to upload videos, YouTube copies the videos to its servers, indexes the metadata, and creates thumbnails. YouTube then publicly displays and performs the infringing works. The complaint: "Thus, the YouTube conduct that forms the basis of this Complaint is not simply providing storage space, conduits, or other facilities to users who create their own websites with infringing materials. To the contrary, YouTube itself commits the infringing duplication, public performance, and public display of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, and that infringement occurs on YouTube’s own website, which is operated and controlled by Defendants, not users."
* This is an important point, since Google has argued -- as any ISP or file storage provider would argue -- that they are not liable for illegal actions taken by users, as they are not aware of that activity until notified by a third party.
4: Embedded videos and e-mailing vidoes from YouTube constitute public performance, too.
5: The embedded videos that attract the most users are copyrighted works, and YouTube displays its brand over them.
I sincerely hope YouTube stays around, it's become a top 10 site that I visit. But I suspect this one is going the way of Napster. Power to the people, but only if it's all good and legal, right?
