Viacom Sues YouTube for One BILLION dollars. Mwahahaha.



Yesterday Howard Stern lamented on Sirius about how HowardTV clips of his show were still available on YouTube despite the fact that he sent them a cease and desist letter. He ominously left off about talking to his agent, Don Buchwald about it. Today Vizcom kicked it up a notch. From Stacy Kramer of Paidcontent:

"Viacom continues its aggressive assault on Google and subsidiary YouTube policies with a lawsuit in U.S. District Court claiming more than $1 billion in damages. That’s the headline—now the details. (We’ve posted the pdf for you to read or download.):

"Several Viacom entities—Viacom international, Comedy Partners, Country Music Television Inc., Paramount Pictures and BET—are parties in the 27-page suit filed this morning in the Southern District of New York against YouTube and Google. The media company alleges that the innovations that have fueled the internet revolution 'also have been misused to fuel an explosion of copyright infringement by exploiting the inexpensive duplication and distribution made possible by digital technology.' And, Viacom claims, in a lengthy introduction, some 'have sought their fortunes by brazenly exploiting the infringing potential of digital technology.' That group, from Viacom’s perspective, includes YouTube, which, the suit says in the often grandiose wording of such documents—not only 'fundamentally threatens' Viacom 'but the economic underpinnings of one of the most important sectors of the United States economy.'"

Oh, sweet Jesus, Sumner. We were totally with you until you made a Kierkegaardian leap into hyperbole. Why stop there. Why not take the last slow promenade into the realm of meaningless legalese: YouTube threatens galactic stability. And when you make that argumen, Les, have James Earl Jones make the closing statement to the jury with a breathing apparatus nearby to give the full Darth Vader effect.

Paidcontent's history of Viacom and YouTube (Paidcontent)