Monday, March 19, 2007
Viacom v. Google: A Puzzlement
A couple of people have asked me about the Viacom/Google battle. It seems (surprise!) that some of the people who post videos on YouTube (a Google subsidiary) post clips from Viacom broadcasts. That gives Google potential vicarious third-party exposure for contributory or induced infringement. At least, that’s what Viacom thinks. Google, I’m certain, has numerous legal arguments to counter Viacom’s claim, with fair use playing a central role in the overall scheme of its argument. Viacom, however, feels that it has a good enough case to have sued Google for a cool billion dollars.
So various folks have asked me why I haven’t posted anything about this case yet. After all, it sounds like it should be right up my alley. The answer is that it is right up my alley. In fact, its soooooooooo up my alley that I’ve already said everything substantive that I have to say about it. I wrote about this case roughly five years before it was filed, omitting only the proper nouns (see Digital Phoenix). To recap:
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