Viacom has sued YouTube, alleging that YouTube built traffic and ad sales by allowing users to post copyrighted clips that they took from movies and television owned by Viacom.
Further inquiry, however, revealed that Viacom could have had the clips removed, but chose to keep them there to create viral marketing campaigns for entertainment.
Viacom has released their unsealed court documents, many of which further outline Viacom’s own acts, that they themselves posted clips on YouTube, even adding that staff members went to places like Kinko’s to upload the clips so that they wouldn’t be traced back to Viacom’s computers. Further information was released that Viacom altered their own footage so that it appeared stolen before uploading.
Google, who owns YouTube, also released their unsealed court documents (Motion for Summary Judgment). Among the allegations in Google’s documents and testimony is a statement that Viacom actually tried to buy YouTube in the past.
In February 2007, Viacom insisted that a mass amount of clips were removed, to which Google complied. When traffic to YouTube didn’t decrease and Viacom’s traffic didn’t increase as a result, Viacom then initiated this lawsuit for $1 Billion.
