2007/03/14

Conscious Colossal Copyright Criminality?

ARVO ARRIVER


Viacom Sues Google Over YouTube Video Clips

Viacom, the parent company of MTV and Comedy Central, sued Google and YouTube in federal court today, citing “massive intentional copyright infringement.”

Viacom, which has feuded publicly with YouTube and its parent Google about the unauthorized posting of its programming online, said it was seeking more than $1 billion in damages. Viacom’s suit is the most aggressive move so far by an old-line media company against the highly popular but legally questionable practice of posting copyrighted media content online.

In its complaint, filed with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Viacom accused YouTube of a “brazen disregard” for the law. “YouTube has harnessed technology to willfully infringe copyrights on a huge scale, depriving writers, composers and performers of the rewards they are owed.”

Google responded today, issuing a statement saying it was undaunted by the lawsuit and “confident that YouTube has respected the legal rights of copyright holders.” It added, “We will certainly not let this suit become a distraction to the continuing growth and strong performance of YouTube.”

The suit is the latest scuffle between YouTube and Viacom. Last month, Viacom demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 clips of its programming. YouTube complied, and in some cases posted a disclaimer that read: “removed at the request of Viacom International” where Viacom material once was.

Viacom said today that nearly 160,000 clips of its programming have been available on YouTube and that they had been viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

Before Viacom ordered YouTube to take down the video, the two had been working toward an agreement. Many of Viacom’s shows like Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and MTV’s stable of reality television programs are highly popular with the YouTube demographic and are potentially worth a large sum if licensed to an online video service. But the two companies have been unable to reach a deal.

*For full article see article title. Additionally, from yesterday: WhoseTube? Viacom Sues Google Over Video Clips

Following the oblique theme of infringement, cogitate this personification: Basic Humanoid HR-2


Dis-klā-mər

U.S. Code Title 17 § 107 permits copyrighted material to be used under the "fair use" doctrine without any permission from the copyright owner. Albeit, as far as these files are concerned, they are clips and/or low quality reproductions of material. Therefore, they should not be used as substitutes for retail copies of the material contained within.
No currency or materials in-lieu of same has changed hands during the download and/or distribution of these files. No monetary reward is expected and/or accepted for the content of these files. No pretense has been, nor will ever be, made that these files and their contents have ever been, or ever will be, of retailable quality.
Nevertheless, any artist or legal copyright owner who would rather not see their music or other creations on this blog, please leave a comment with a valid e-mail address and I will hastily respond accordingly.
If you do download any music or any other copyrighted material(s), please delete download within 24 hrs and purchase the material(s) from a retailer.

Support the artist and buy from legitamate retailers such as:

Dusty Groove, Stones Throw & Hip-O Select
Since Earth Day: 2008/04/22
Never incautious of corporate branding per Adbrite and Google AdSense accordingly, Fulsome does not endorse Ad:Free Blog.
As a consequence all adverts have been perennially demounted.