Viacom sues YouTube/Google

Chacor · #1 Postby **Chacor** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:53 am

It was always going to happen, and was only a matter of time.

[web]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6446193.stm[/web]

JTD · #2 Postby **JTD** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:29 am

I think this lawsuit will mark the beginning of the end of Youtube being a site worth going to. Stupid copyright vampires.

GalvestonDuck · #3 Postby **GalvestonDuck** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:45 am

jason0509 wrote:I think this lawsuit will mark the beginning of the end of Youtube being a site worth going to. Stupid copyright vampires.

No...stupid pirates and bootleggers is more like it.

If people would put their own original videos on YouTube and Google or use disclaimers when making fan videos instead of taking entire movies and episodes of shows and posting them, YT and Google would have nothing to worry about. The purpose of YouTube is not piracy and copyright violation.

Website · #4 Postby **Brent** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:35 am

jason0509 wrote:I think this lawsuit will mark the beginning of the end of Youtube being a site worth going to. Stupid copyright vampires.

The spammers are ridiculous over there too. People post chain letter type things over and over in all the popular videos. I marked like 100 comments in a couple of hours one day last week. :roll:

I don't think it'll be the end of YT though... it's too popular. It is the thing of the future whether they like it or not. YouTube has already taken the videos down(they did when Viacom first demanded it).

Scorpion · #5 Postby **Scorpion** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:01 pm

Youtube has gotten worse recently... I used to be able to get all the shows and NFL highlights that I wanted. Now I can hardly get anything. With this lawsuit now I am sure it will get much worse.

artist · #6 Postby **artist** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:05 pm

I agree Brent. I don't think so either. This is similar to the ebay lawsuits that used to come about in a way. I am sure that their lawyers have been right on top of things. What I don't understand is that this actually is good for business for Viacom - more exposure to its shows, etc. This may just be a way for them to brings themselves even more into the spotlight without real intent of stopping it.

gtalum · #7 Postby **gtalum** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:07 pm

My guess is Viacom and Google/YouTube will come to some sort of financial arrangement and the suit will be settled. You can't blame Viacom for going after them, though. One requirement of copyright protection is that the copyright holder must actively defend their copyrights. To fail to do so can result in the elimination of copyright protection on the works in question.

That said, I bet the guys who just sold YouTube to Google are happy they closed that sale!

Website · #8 Postby **Brent** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:26 pm

artist wrote:I agree Brent. I don't think so either. This is similar to the ebay lawsuits that used to come about in a way. I am sure that their lawyers have been right on top of things. What I don't understand is that this actually is good for business for Viacom - more exposure to its shows, etc. This may just be a way for them to brings themselves even more into the spotlight without real intent of stopping it.

I agree. I have seen clips on YouTube and have actually got into some shows a bit that way. I don't see how this is necessarily a bad thing.

CajunMama · #9 Postby **CajunMama** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:49 pm

Brent, as many repeats as there are now on tv you can easily get into a show.

Now Viacomm is a business. As a business owner would you prefer to people watching your shows for free or possibly by the dvd when they release them (which they seem to do with almost every show) after you paid the salaries for all those involved? What about the sponsors who put up $$. I don't recall seeing any commercial on youtube videos. Hmmmm...tough decision there from a business point of view!

Lindaloo · #10 Postby **Lindaloo** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:04 pm

I do not watch movies on youtube. I buy DVD's. I do not download the free music either, no matter how good the site is. I pay for my music. I do not want to go to jail for piracy.

I do watch the old music videos though. I sure hope they leave those alone.

Opal storm · #11 Postby **Opal storm** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:13 pm

I hope this doesn't mess up YouTube too much.I download a lot of videos and put them on my i-pod.

Youtube has gotten worse recently... I used to be able to get all the shows and NFL highlights that I wanted. Now I can hardly get anything. With this lawsuit now I am sure it will get much worse.

I agree,I had a bunch of sports clips saved to my favorites and now they have all been taken down.

Lindaloo · #12 Postby **Lindaloo** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:29 pm

Why would they take down sports clips? That makes no sense! I thought the lawsuit was about movies, not stuff like that. I guess it IS going to be the end of youtube.

CajunMama · #13 Postby **CajunMama** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:16 pm

Many of the sportsclips belong to ESPN and other big networks.

https://www.youtube.com/user/senorpepr · #14 Postby **senorpepr** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:29 pm

Yes, many sports clips are not free domain. If anything, they have more protection (or at least publicized protection) than ordinary sitcoms and other such programs.

For instance, TV broadcasts (such as your local news) has to obtain permission not only from the network who filmed the event, but also from the league. (To put it persective, if WGNO-TV [a New Orleans ABC affiliate] wants to show clips of a Saints game that was aired on NBC. WGNO has to ask permission from both NBC and the NFL before airing the video. So, if WGNO has to go through that legal effort, why should John Q. Public be allowed to just post the same footage onto YouTube without that consent?

Furthermore, at the end of most sports broadcasts, a blurb is read stating that rebroadcast of the event without express, written permission from the sports league is prohibited.

https://www.youtube.com/user/senorpepr · #15 Postby **senorpepr** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:31 pm

Brent wrote:I don't think it'll be the end of YT though... it's too popular. It is the thing of the future whether they like it or not. YouTube has already taken the videos down(they did when Viacom first demanded it).

While probably unlikely, it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility. Remember the original Napster? It wouldn't surprise me if, eventually, YouTube becomes more like the new Napster...

GalvestonDuck · #16 Postby **GalvestonDuck** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:33 pm

Scorpion wrote:Youtube has gotten worse recently... I used to be able to get all the shows and NFL highlights that I wanted. Now I can hardly get anything. With this lawsuit now I am sure it will get much worse.

No, it will be better. You won't get those shows anymore unless you watch them on the network or Itunes (where you pay).

Opal storm · #17 Postby **Opal storm** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:42 pm

GalvestonDuck wrote:
Scorpion wrote:Youtube has gotten worse recently... I used to be able to get all the shows and NFL highlights that I wanted. Now I can hardly get anything. With this lawsuit now I am sure it will get much worse.

No, it will be better. You won't get those shows anymore unless you watch them on the network or Itunes (where you pay).

That's not better for me! :lol:

GalvestonDuck · #18 Postby **GalvestonDuck** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:16 pm

Opal storm wrote:
GalvestonDuck wrote:
Scorpion wrote:Youtube has gotten worse recently... I used to be able to get all the shows and NFL highlights that I wanted. Now I can hardly get anything. With this lawsuit now I am sure it will get much worse.

No, it will be better. You won't get those shows anymore unless you watch them on the network or Itunes (where you pay).
That's not better for me!

Why not? You can still watch for free if you watch on the network (or sometimes even on the network site).

It's better for the millions of lesser-knowns who work on those shows, behind-the-scenes and so forth, as well as for the advertisers. If pirates steal from those people, they steal from the fans as well. It's bad enough that there aren't as many scripted shows on TV as there used to be. Now it's a bunch of reality and games shows (some of which I'm guilty of watching as well).

And has anyone noticed that there aren't many theme songs anymore? There's not much to sing anymore, besides "Menmenmenmenmanlymenmenmenmen...oooo...oooo...oooooo...meeeeennnnnnnn!"

Regit · #19 Postby **Regit** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:20 pm

GalvestonDuck wrote:
And has anyone noticed that there aren't many theme songs anymore? There's not much to sing anymore, besides "Menmenmenmenmanlymenmenmenmen...oooo...oooo...oooooo...meeeeennnnnnnn!"

It does make you long for the days of Taxi and Cheers.

wxmann_91 · #20 Postby **wxmann_91** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:37 am

This again. Yeah, this is a pretty interesting issue. A lot of my favorite YouTube videos have been deleted.

Viacom sues YouTube/Google

Viacom sues YouTube/Google

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