YouTube's parent company, Google, is being forced to disclose information regarding every video viewed online, including all the user names and web addresses which are to be submitted to Viacom who are pursuing a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit. Google however, won a small, but important victory, and will be able to retain the code it uses to post videos, as this is protected property.
Viacom filed the lawsuit back in March 2007 to prevent Google from posting masses of material online that was protected by copyright laws. Google had maintained that this would be an invasion of privacy to its users, but this was over ruled and Judge Stanton ordered the release of the data. With over 100 million videos being viewed everyday that's a lot of data!
Since Viacom issued its lawsuit, YouTube has introduced a system of digital fingerprints that checks uploaded videos against the original content as a means of reducing copyright violation.
Viacom is not alone in it's attack on the posting of copyrighted material. The English Premier League is also after YouTube for its users posting soccer games online without permission.
Google argues that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which protects companies from users posting protected material negated their responsibility, as long as copyrighted material was removed upon notification. Still, with over 50,000 videos being posted daily, it is no wonder that some illegal postings slip through the cracks.
Either way I wonder just where this leaves Google and it's adopted child YouTube. It cost the search giant $1.65 billion in November 2006 and still remains unprofitable, according to it's regulatory filing. The mountain of video data could uncover further infractions, potentially adding to Google's liability woes. Compound this with the bandwidth costs, which are estimated at approximately $1 million a day, and you have quite an expensive operation. Now that the copyright lawsuits are beginning to gather momentum YouTube is becoming quite an luxurious undertaking.
Still, the announcement doesn't seem to have had a negative impact on the company's stock, today at least, which although off it's all-time high of $747.24 was up 1.89 percent or $9.96 today and closed at $537.