News Viacom goes after Google for YouTube infringements

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/03/13/Viacom_goes_after_Google_for_YouTube_infringements/

 

I think lawsuits like this are ridiculous!

With the size of the userbase that watch youtube, Viacom could be using it as a tool to advertise their shows for little to no cash out of pocket. Instead they are wasting money trying to extort cash out of google.

 

I have no idea how much revenue Viacom has lost due to the low quality snipits of video on YouTube but something tells me it's no where near $1bn. On the flip side, I wonder how much money Viacom have earned due to people seeing their shows on YouTube and then going out and buying the DVD because they want to see the full length full quality version.

 

or just getting the torrent?

streaming video like that is bad, it brings piracy to the n00b and makes it far too easy to get hold of. I personally think that youTube should remove all content like that, and sites like alluc should be taken down as well.

 

At the same time though, alluc and youtube bring some of those shows to international viewers. I for one was abroad in Paris for a while and it's the only way to view them.

I think Godboy_g is onto something with advertising. Google could set Youtube up like adult swim... i.e. 15 second commercials in between every 7 minutes of video. The owners of the video could then choose the commercial or something.

It's good publicity, it's just that the execution isn't so great.

 

Viacom obvioulsy have more money than sense, I would agree with DTM2000 and say that Youtube exposure actually improves viewing figures and sales of the affected shows. They more than likely know this as well but it seems that US companies have an addiction to lawsuits that nothing can fuel, hey why make better shows or products to make money when you can just get it by taking real innovators to court!

 

hahahahahahaha

this totally reminds me of the south park episode, with the law case "everyone vs everyone"

Hold on a second, they might sue me for just mentioning this, i mean it is revealing some of their IP without paying for it

 

I seriously hope Viacom fall flat on their noses with this one, greedy sodding *******s... although realistically I think it'll just be one more boring out of court settlement.

 

It'd be nice if Google/YouTube could acquire a copyright license thing like Wikipedia, where all content is not the responsibility of Google/YouTube but of the individual users

 

Google should clip on a 15 sec ad before every single video.

 

well I am unable to actualy watch any of there shows apart from on you tube/Bit torrnet/IRC/usenet and certianly woulden't subscribe to any paid tv service above the already exorbidant tv licence. So they can deduct that from there 1BN to start with

 

NOOOOOooooooooo Yahoo already does that - I Hate it.

 

how do these guys calculate these monstrous amounts of cash?????

15 sec ad before a 10 second video that shows a cat exploding.......

 

they take the distance from the earth to the sun, multiply it by the speed of light squared add bill gates pocket change and bam, you have a figure

 

Really? - I thought it was related to the cube root of the speed of light through lime green jello times the volume of the universe (as measured in Jello packets)

... plus Bill Gates pocket change (nice addition randsome )

Though in reality I suspect it has something to do with "how much will it take to make headlines and get attention?"

 

maybe they were just watching Austin powers and thought - hey lets try that

 

Honestly, i'm SO sure they're losing trillions by people watching clips of their shows. Oh noes, i saw four minutes of the new south park! now i'll never buy the dvd. Seriously, idiots they are.

 

QFT.

Viacom is like the RIAA, all they do is bitch & moan.

 

you tube is such low quality anyway that most stuff is only OK to watch, and a lot of stuff is just downright unpleasant to watch

 

I go to Youtube to watch the political stuff with the "libertarian anarchist" tweens crying about *insert ridiculous topic here*