The next step in the copyright infringement wars has begun. Google (YouTube.com) is being sued by Viacom for “massive intentional copyright infringement” for the content being hosted on Google Video and YouTube.com. So what is the motivation behind these lawsuits from Viacom? Making money from content they do not own.
That is basically what it all comes down to. Google (YouTube.com) is making millions, if not billions, of dollars in revenue from advertising through content they do not own. YouTube.com has been hosting content they do not own ever since, well, basically that’s the whole idea around YouTube; since the start, I have to say.
YouTube offers consumers a path to get get their ‘15 seconds of fame’ in exchange for advertising in their faces to generate revenue. Not all YouTube members are uploading videos they own though, it’s often caught up that they upload South Park episodes, Family Guy clips, and thousands of other clips that they do not own the copyright to.
This is where Viacom comes in and takes control of the copyright infringement policies to make them quite a bit stricter. Viacom feels they are losing money since they just started their own video sharing network simliar to YouTube and frankly they don’t want the competition with their own content.
It makes sense to me and I feel it is a good business move for Viacom.
