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Should Google Sue Viacom? |
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Written by Blue Melnick
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Tuesday, 13 March 2007 14:55 |
Well, the inevitable has finally happened. Someone has sued YouTube for .... wait for it .... One Billion Dollars !!!
Viacom, the parrent company of Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, Comedy Central, MTV, CMT, etc..., is suing YouTube for damages relating to copyright infringement. From the press release:
"There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process." You can read the entire release here.
I understand that Viacom owns the content it creates, and if someone where to profit from the content without their consent, there should be measures taken to curtail that profit, but the content placed on YouTube has done the opposite of what they are saying it has done ("destroying enormous value"). If it where not for YouTube, I would never have started to watch the Colbert Report or the Daily Show, among other things. I'm sure I'm not alone in that statement.
YouTube, Google Video, and other online content providers like them, are free advertising for companies like Viacom. They have the infrastructure set up. They have the eyeballs coming to their site. In fact, there are many content providers here in Canada, and elsewhere around the world, putting clips on YouTube in the hopes of driving traffic to their website and television stations. These companies get it. They understand the power of having content on YouTube. Viacom, obviously does not.
I think that YouTube, and their parent company Google, should turn around and sue Viacom. In America, where you can sue anybody for any reason, I think Google would have a case. Viacom has unfairly benefited from the clips posted on YouTube without sharing in the increased revenue that it has generated. In fact, I think Google could make an argument that Viacom has not sufficiently protected their content, making it available to upload to services like YouTube. If Viacom did not want to benefit from YouTube's free advertising, they would have employed proper DRM .... wouldn't they?
Final word ... Google, please sue Viacom .... you have a case :)
Blue
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