The Google-Viacom showdown over the handover of YouTube user data appears to be over. The two sides agreed to changes in a previous ruling that would have required Google to hand over user id’s, IP addresses and a list of all viewed YouTube videos to Viacom in connection with their ongoing copyright infringement litigation.

After an online uprising against the order, Viacom tried to assert that they never requested personally identifiable information (they did), and later promised not to use the information to sue individuals. The value of that promise was questioned by us and many others.

Full story: techcrunch.com 

Labels: Anonymity, data, Viacom

Google is to be forced to release the records of every video watched on YouTube, including user names and web addresses, to entertainment company Viacom after a US federal court ruling.

Viacom, which is pursuing a $1bn (£500m) copyright infringement lawsuit against Google, wants the information to determine the amount of copyright material on YouTube. The disclosure could increase Google's liability if Viacom wins the court case.

Google had argued that turning over the YouTube data would invade users' privacy. However, US district judge Louis Stanton ordered the internet company to hand over video records and information including login names and internet protocol addresses.

Viacom failed, however, in a bid to also secure access to the search engine giant's source code, on the grounds that doing so would threaten Google's business.

Read more: guardian.co.uk 

Labels: lawsuit, lawyers, Viacom, youtube

Is Viacom really endangering the freedom of the net?

Viacom’s threat of legal action against YouTube for allowing copyrighted material to appear online has left Google forecasting the death of Internet freedom.

Google owns YouTube, and it has reacted furiously to broadcasting giant Viacom’s assertion that they had done ‘little or nothing’ to stop infringement.

Lawyers for Google state that the suit “threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information.”

Full story: techradar.com 

Labels: lawsuit, Viacom, video, youtube

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert on witness list

As if its court battle with Viacom wasn't funny enough, YouTube has now asked for testimony from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert - the faux newsmen whose exploits on Viacom's Comedy Central cable TV channel once made for prime viewing material on the video-sharing site.

According to a filing with the New York federal court where YouTube is fighting a $1bn copyright infringement suit from media giant Viacom, the Google-owned video sharer has requested depositions from 32 people, and numbers three and four on the list are Stewart and Colbert. That puts them a few spots below Viacom chief executive officer Philippe Dauman, who's first, and a few spots above executive chairman and American icon Sumner Redstone, who's number eight.

Full story: theregister.co.uk 

Labels: Trial, Viacom, video, youtube

Viacom and Google go to court July 27 to decide which of the two companies should bear the cost of keeping Viacom's copyrighted content off YouTube, Google's video-sharing Web site. Viacom says Google and seeks $1 billion in damages.

Whatever the result, the case will impact most Internet users. According to comScore, nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video per user during May 2007. Most of those videos came from YouTube. According to web metrics firm Hitwise, YouTube's market share was 50 percent greater than the next 64 most popular Web video sites combined.

Full article: internetnews.com 

Labels: Copyright, lawsuit, lawyers, Viacom, youtube

Google's CEO Eric Schmidt took a swipe at Viacom Friday, saying the company was "built from lawsuits" and pointed to its litigious history. Schmidt's comments were made to reporters at a hotel bar at the annual Allen & Co. meeting of media moguls.

Viacom is currently suing Google subsidiary YouTube for $1 billion, claiming "massive copyright infringement." Both sides have failed to reach an agreement.

Read more: BetaNews 

Labels: Eric Schmidt, lawsuit, Viacom, youtube