5 years later, Viacom still suing YouTube out of “principle”

A five year-old legal battle between Viacom and Google-owned YouTube over copyrighted content continues to clog up the U.S. court system because Viacom, parent company of Paramount Pictures and MTV, believes there’s an important principle at stake, president and CEO Philippe Dauman said Tuesday.

Dauman, in an interview at the D: Dive Into Media event, defended his company’s ongoing litigation against YouTube, the purveyor of user-generated content, despite a 2010 federal ruling establishing that the … Continue Reading

Viacom may owe $383 million to Harmonix shareholders

Viacom Inc. may owe $383 million to former shareholders of Cambridge-based developer Harmonix Music Systems, best-known for the Rock Band series.

There are apparently a handful of legal battles going on between Viacom and shareholders over their $175 million acquisition of the developer back in 2006.

An arbitration team ruled Dec. 19 that Viacom still owes money to shareholders based on sales targets which were met in both 2007 and 2008. The $383 million stems … Continue Reading