Viacom orders YouTube to remove more than 100,000 video clips

February 2, 2007 | Matt Marshall | Comments | |

viacom.bmpViacom, owner of a vast stable of videos, has requested that YouTube remove more than 100,000 unauthorized video clips from its site.

This comes after months of negotiation between Google and other entertainment content owners like Viacom. Story here, by Merc’s Elise Ackerman.

“It has become clear that YouTube is unwilling to come to a fair market agreement that would make Viacom content available to YouTube users,” the entertainment giant said in a statement. “Filtering tools promised repeatedly by YouTube and Google have not been put in place, and they continue to host and stream vast amounts of unauthorized video.”

Google has indeed been stalling on implementing copyright filter tools, saying it is building its own filter technology. But that has only helped its new property, YouTube, keep its lead as a place you can find all kinds of video, including copyrighted stuff. Lawsuit coming?

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Matt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • Larry
    What happened to the motto "Do no Evil"
  • Jean
    The maser plan, imho, is to build a new ad product NOT a filtering scheme; and then make video ad placement the anchor for their intended attack on branded national advertising in 2007. The ability to integrate a campaign between TV placement and Google video placement is a fertile ground for ad/placement innovation, and prime territory for leverage of YouTube.
  • Graham Foslien
    I made an Avatar: The last airbender Music Video that got pulled a couple days ago. Suffise to say, I am furious- making a video that shows part but not all of an episode is NOT copyright infringment, and even if they were not going to allow AMVs (Anime Music Videos), why not pull them all? because the nation would riot in the streets. Intentially posting episodes of shows on youtube IS illegal, but music videos only using part of an episode should remain legal on youtube as "creative use". Has anyone seen south park? It only takes one episode pulled to take down a show forever. Youtube is no different.
  • This is a major case. I'll be watching the progression of Youtube's copyright issues closely (I'm in Trademark Law.) Thanks for the article.