Markets

Viacom vs. YouTube: Copyright Hypocrisy?

By David Weir

Updated on: March 19, 2010 / 7:16 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Not long before filing suit against YouTube and its owner Google in 2007 for uploading content from programs like The Daily Show, Viacom was actually trying to buy the popular video-sharing site itself.

In addition, Viacom was busily uploading its own content to YouTube during the same period.

Hypocrisy?

It's all part of the dirty laundry being aired in what originated as a battle over Internet copyright law, but has since degenerated into an old-fashioned corporate dogfight.

This, BTW, is a major reason investigative reporters love the "summary judgment" phase of civil cases like this one. At this stage, lawyers for both sides lay out their juiciest evidence in the hope (in YouTube's case) that the judge will dismiss the case, or ( in Viacom's) declare that the case can proceed to trial.

Judging from the quality of the filings, I would have to say that YouTube appears to have the upper hand when it comes to the dirt.

YouTube's attorney is also waging a public opinion battle just in case. "YouTube and sites like it will cease to exist in their current form if Viacom and others have their way in their lawsuits against YouTube," says Zahavah Levine in a blog post.

Here's how Levine characterizes Viacom's behavior:

For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there. It hired no fewer than 18 different marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It deliberately "roughed up" the videos to make them look stolen or leaked. It opened YouTube accounts using phony email addresses. It even sent employees to Kinko's to upload clips from computers that couldn't be traced to Viacom. And in an effort to promote its own shows, as a matter of company policy Viacom routinely left up clips from shows that had been uploaded to YouTube by ordinary users. Executives as high up as the president of Comedy Central and the head of MTV Networks felt "very strongly" that clips from shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report should remain on YouTube.

Ouch.

By contrast, Viacom seems intent, according to EFF, on getting the judge to rewrite Internet copyright law. One surprising concession the cable giant makes is that its is only concerned with YouTube's behavior prior to May 2008, when, as you may recall, Google launched its Content ID system, which enables copyright owners to lay claim to their copyrighted content and determine whether to pull it down or allow it to be monetized on YouTube.

This would seem to suggest that YouTube has already addressed Viacom's original complaint -- another reason I expect this case will probably never go to trial.

Update: For a more detailed examination of the court filings, please check out TechDirt.