Over time, YouTube parent Google won multiple court cases after Viacom failed to prove that YouTube had knowledge of what its users were uploading and were purposely allowing it. As recently as last year, Judge Louis Stanton ruled that "the burden of showing that YouTube knew or was aware of the specific infringements of the works in suit cannot be shifted to YouTube to disprove."
As stated in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (with "Safe Harbor" provision), YouTube should be granted protection from claims like those brought by Viacom as long as they take down offending content after being made aware of its existence. For its case, Viacom had an extremely tough time proving its case. Of the hundreds of videos it initially cited, 100 were uploaded by its own employees to YouTube and it later removed 187 from the suit, causing confusion and weakening its claims.
Over time, the two companies have become partners, and YouTube has also exploded in popularity. Viacom now posts clips and longer form content on the network and Viacom is also a syndication partner with Vevo, the music video on-demand streaming site that gets most of its traffic through Google.
Reads the announcement: "This settlement reflects the growing collaborative dialogue between our two companies on important opportunities, and we look forward to working more closely together."
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2014 19:08
