Net News

You Tube Suit Threatens Online Communication

A $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit challenging YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the Internet, YouTube owner Google Inc. said.

Google's lawyers made the claim in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as the company responded to Viacom Inc.'s latest lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to 'an explosion of copyright infringement' by YouTube and others.

The back-and-forth between the companies has intensified since Viacom brought its lawsuit last year, saying it was owed damages for the unauthorized viewing of its programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.'

In papers submitted to a judge last month, Google said YouTube 'goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works.'

It said that by seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Viacom 'threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression.'

Google said YouTube was faithful to the requirements of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying the federal law was intended to protect companies like YouTube as long as they responded properly to content owners' claims of infringement.

On that score, Viacom says Google has set a terrible example.

In a rewritten lawsuit filed last month, Viacom said YouTube consistently allows unauthorized copies of popular television programming and movies to be posted on its Web site and viewed tens of thousands of times.

Viacom said it had identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of copyrighted programming ' including 'SpongeBob SquarePants,' 'South Park' and 'MTV Unplugged' episodes and the documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' ' that had been viewed 'an astounding 1.5 billion times.'

The company said its count of unauthorized clips represents only a fraction of the content on YouTube that violates its copyrights.

It said Google and YouTube had done 'little or nothing' to stop infringement.

'To the contrary, the availability on the YouTube site of a vast library of the copyrighted works of plaintiffs and others is the cornerstone of defendants' business plan,' Viacom said.

Yahoo Inc. has filed a lawsuit against an unknown group of defendants it alleges tricked consumers into thinking they won a lottery or prize offered by the Internet company.

Yahoo filed the lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court in New York City under federal trademark law, federal anti-spam law and other state laws.

In its court filing, Yahoo contends that the defendants masqueraded as the Internet company, sending out e-mails claiming recipients had won prizes ranging from a few thousand to a million dollars and instructing them to click on a link or forward personal information to a 'Yahoo lottery coordinator' to get their prize.

At times, recipients were instructed to contact another party to arrange for the prize payment, Yahoo said in the filing, and this other party would charge them 'hundreds of dollars in various processing and mailing charges in order to complete the payment process.'

Yahoo noted in the filing that it does not offer any such prizes and has no connection with the group or the e-mails it sent.

Such 'phishing' scams are meant to trick consumers into sharing financial information.

Although the defendants' identities are unknown, Yahoo thinks that information acquired during a discovery period from third-party e-mail service companies will lead to their identification.

'The unauthorized use of Yahoo's trademarks is misleading, fraudulent, and has actually confused, misled, and deceived the public,' said Joe Siino, senior vice president of Yahoo global intellectual property and business strategy, in a statement.

Yahoo is seeking an end to the companies' practices and unspecified damages.

Several days before Yahoo filed its suit, a federal judge ordered a notorious 'Spam King' and his partner to pay News Corp.-owned online hangout MySpace about $230 million in damages ' a sum that is thought to be the largest ever anti-spam judgment.

Service providers have a hard time collecting such awards, though, as it is often hard to track down defendants.

You Tube Suit Threatens Online Communication

A $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit challenging YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the Internet, YouTube owner Google Inc. said.

Google's lawyers made the claim in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as the company responded to Viacom Inc.'s latest lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to 'an explosion of copyright infringement' by YouTube and others.

The back-and-forth between the companies has intensified since Viacom brought its lawsuit last year, saying it was owed damages for the unauthorized viewing of its programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.'

In papers submitted to a judge last month, Google said YouTube 'goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works.'

It said that by seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Viacom 'threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression.'

Google said YouTube was faithful to the requirements of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying the federal law was intended to protect companies like YouTube as long as they responded properly to content owners' claims of infringement.

On that score, Viacom says Google has set a terrible example.

In a rewritten lawsuit filed last month, Viacom said YouTube consistently allows unauthorized copies of popular television programming and movies to be posted on its Web site and viewed tens of thousands of times.

Viacom said it had identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of copyrighted programming ' including 'SpongeBob SquarePants,' 'South Park' and 'MTV Unplugged' episodes and the documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' ' that had been viewed 'an astounding 1.5 billion times.'

The company said its count of unauthorized clips represents only a fraction of the content on YouTube that violates its copyrights.

It said Google and YouTube had done 'little or nothing' to stop infringement.

'To the contrary, the availability on the YouTube site of a vast library of the copyrighted works of plaintiffs and others is the cornerstone of defendants' business plan,' Viacom said.

Yahoo Inc. has filed a lawsuit against an unknown group of defendants it alleges tricked consumers into thinking they won a lottery or prize offered by the Internet company.

Yahoo filed the lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court in New York City under federal trademark law, federal anti-spam law and other state laws.

In its court filing, Yahoo contends that the defendants masqueraded as the Internet company, sending out e-mails claiming recipients had won prizes ranging from a few thousand to a million dollars and instructing them to click on a link or forward personal information to a 'Yahoo lottery coordinator' to get their prize.

At times, recipients were instructed to contact another party to arrange for the prize payment, Yahoo said in the filing, and this other party would charge them 'hundreds of dollars in various processing and mailing charges in order to complete the payment process.'

Yahoo noted in the filing that it does not offer any such prizes and has no connection with the group or the e-mails it sent.

Such 'phishing' scams are meant to trick consumers into sharing financial information.

Although the defendants' identities are unknown, Yahoo thinks that information acquired during a discovery period from third-party e-mail service companies will lead to their identification.

'The unauthorized use of Yahoo's trademarks is misleading, fraudulent, and has actually confused, misled, and deceived the public,' said Joe Siino, senior vice president of Yahoo global intellectual property and business strategy, in a statement.

Yahoo is seeking an end to the companies' practices and unspecified damages.

Several days before Yahoo filed its suit, a federal judge ordered a notorious 'Spam King' and his partner to pay News Corp.-owned online hangout MySpace about $230 million in damages ' a sum that is thought to be the largest ever anti-spam judgment.

Service providers have a hard time collecting such awards, though, as it is often hard to track down defendants.