See Funny YouTube Video at: Boycott Viacom
We saw it coming Google, did you? We've been trying to keep up with these massive media moguls mergers, acquisitions and popularity. You might say that the internet news enthusiasts could have predicted this coming along, but with that said, we have to assume that Google kind of knew it too.
Read some past articles,
Google and YouTube Face Copyright Infringement
Google Makes Empty Promises Concerning YouTube
Google Copyright Infringement, At Least One Lawsuit
To get an idea of some of the latter news that that has plagued Google since Google acquired Youtube.com
Well, Viacom finally laid down the law, suing Google for 1$ Billion. Wow, now that's not chump change, even for Google. And, Google is losing money on Youtube, even up until this very moment. (You can read the latest article on that if you click the link)
Internet law, while clear, is a growing facet of our world, and has it continues to complicate, grow and change, there will be some serious lessons learned. Lesson learned #1 to all those big companies looking to purchase an internet community hoping to triple your exposure and advertising dollar:
A 1.76$ billion purchase, might double in end price due to the rising interest in the internet, and you might just be the next example of a new internet smack down on laws.
Apparently Viacom was in the works of making some deals with Google concerning their all too obvious exploitation of clips, pieces and creative work from some of Viacom's major networks:
MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Nickelodeon.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW:
Turns out those "deals" fell through, and Viacom asked (for lack of a better word) Google and Youtube to remove more than 100,000 copyright owned videos from their site. Google agreed and removed the videos. Meanwhile, Viacom found over 50,000 more videos directly violating the creative copyright of their owners.
Enough is enough!
According to MSNBC, and the article I got this news from: Viacom Sues GoogleViacom is saying (all in different contexts of course):
“built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others’ creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google.”
“which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws.”
In Response? Google has said:
“that YouTube has respected the legal rights of copyright holders.”
“We will certainly not let this suit become a distraction to the continuing growth and strong performance of YouTube and its ability to attract more users, more traffic and build a stronger community,”
Viacom had some things to say. While they have speculated to be threatened by Google and Youtube due to their clear exploitation of the cable network's T.V. shows and pieces, they have also been taking other routes to possibly try competing with the conglomerate. In a news clip from earlier:
T.V. Networks discussing YouTube Rival
Viacom talks about this exactly.
We'll see how this works out, but just so the bad boys know, us internet geeks have been watching this train wreck come into fruition since just about day one. Poor Google, GO US! :)
