Friday morning, a Parisian court convicted Google (GOOG) in a copyright infringement case surrounding the online publication of French books. The French judge ruled that Google has to pay roughly $430,000 in damages and interest to French publishing house La Martiniere.

In addition, Google was ordered to pay 10,000 euro per day until the French books are taken down from the online database. This decision is notable because publishers and libraries in both the U.S. and Europe have criticized Google for its decision to scan millions of books and make them available online.

BayTSP, a small start-up, makes it money by checking video (subscription required) on Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube to find material that infringes on copyrights from major media companies One of its largest clients is Viacom (NYSE:VIA) which has a huge case pending against the world's largest video sharing site.

When BayTSP finds video that should not be on YouTube, it sends e-mail to the company to have it taken down. At one point earlier this year, the company identified over 100,000 video clips which Viacom is using as part of its $1 billion lawsuit claiming Google willfully ignores copyright laws.

But, efforts from the service could cut both ways in the lawsuit. YouTube does take down the clips that have been identified, and does so quickly. It is Google's view that the responsible parties are the users who post the videos and not YouTube. The fact that clips are removed on request may play in Google's favor in the court case.

The abilities of the service raises another interesting possibility which is that content companies could bring suits against private individuals who post proprietary content.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Since its upside surprise when it reported last quarter, enterprise software giant Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) has continued with its philosophy of growth through acquisition by acquiring LODESTAR Corp., which supplies software solutions to utilities, as well as product lifecycle management leader Agile Software Corp. (NASDAQ: AGIL). And the share price has been trending upward the past three months.

But it hasn't all been peaches and cream. Billionaire George Soros recently shifted his focus away from Oracle and some other tech stocks in favor of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). BloggingStocks contributor Georges Yared thinks Oracle's glory days, in terms of growth, may be behind it, and even that it may be a stock for suckers.

Oracle's rivalry with Germany-based SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) continues, of course, not only in the courtroom -- Oracle recently added copyright infringement to its theft charges against SAP -- but also into small and medium-sized companies, where some early indicators suggest Oracle may have the edge. Oddly enough, there has been speculation that Oracle may try to acquire SAP, unlikely though that may be, after it was rumored that Oracle has been purchasing SAP stock.

But Oracle remains part of the Fortune 500, and BloggingStocks contributor Brent Archer thinks the stock might be a bargain. One analyst upgraded Oracle just last week. According to Thomson Financial, Wall Street consensus rates ORCL a buy (12 strong buy, 11 buy, 12 hold). When Oracle reports earnings on June 26, analysts expect earnings per share for this quarter to come in at 35 cents, compared to 25 cents actual from last quarter, and 25 cents a year ago. Its market cap is $96.8 billion, and its P/E ratio is 18.95 (the industry average is 23.49). The consensus price target is $21.25; the 52-week low was $13.77 in July of 2006 and $19.95 last week. It closed Tuesday at $19.88.

Google's unveiling of "universal search" last week meant that its search customers could now see results from web searches not only in terms of related website results, but from video and news sources as well. Previously, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) had not combined search results into a single "one-stop shop" for search customers (who had to visit more Google sites). Well, that is no longer the case. Just perform a search at www.google.com and look at how the results are presented, along with the navigation at the top of your screen.

With all the mess some news websites and companies have given Google in the past, it may get a little worse for Google now that search customers can "find" news articles and related information from news-based websites much more easily than before. Although Google News doesn't "publish" a thing, some have sued Google because it includes (not steals) content from news websites all over the web. I've never heard of an encyclopedia company being sued, nor Wikipedia. But, Google is a target precisely because of how large and popular it is. Information democratization is just not in the vocabulary of some.

Now, news stories and such have appeared in standard Google search results for quite a while now. But, with "News" being right there -- front and center -- as a search resource, will the company see more action in terms of so-called "copyright infringement"? Most likely, yes. Smart news-based websites realize that partnering with Google is great for business (when done correctly), and the "old guard" realizes that fighting off readers is probably not good for business. "Walled gardens" are being torn down and that will not stop. Google will see to that, and for the term "information superhighway" to continue meaning anything, progress needs to move forward, right?

It seems that Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA) has had it. After the media conglomerate had asked Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) -- very nicely too -- to remove some 100,000 clips from its recently purchased video-sharing site YouTube, it is now saying: no more!

As Beth Gaston Moon mentioned, Viacom is now suing Google for more than $1 billion in damages over these unauthorized clips and the use of its programming online. Viacom also seeks an injunction to prevent future and further violations.

Many have worried that with Google's deep pockets, this is exactly what would happen once the company purchased YouTube. While some saw dollar signs from potential advertising revenue on the popular video-sharing site, others were concerned with the blatant copyright infringements.

The original number of 100,000 clips Viacom claimed in the past it asked Google to remove is now in the neighborhood of 160,000. These were viewed more than 1.5 million times.

Google is used to providing everything for free. In fact, this is its business model -- offer free products, increase traffic and then benefit from the advertising. This model is fine as long as Google offers its own products for free. Once it offers others', it becomes a different -- and potentially hazardous -- story.

GOOG shares are down over 2% to $445.53, while VIA shares are up nearly 1.2% to $40.03. It seems investors have already decided which way this one goes.

There are many of us who are guilty of the following scenario - miss Al Gore on The Daily Show? Or need just one more shot of Justin Timberlake bringing sexy back to the Video Music Awards? Hop on over to YouTube, and you will most certainly find satisfaction.

Today, Viacom (NYSE:VIA), the parent of MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and other major networks, is tired of this pattern. The conglomerate has sued Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and its YouTube unit for more than $1 billion, citing unauthorized use of copyrighted material.

In addition to more than $1 billion in damages, the suit, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks an injunction against further violations. VIA alleges that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of company-owned programming has been uploaded onto YouTube and viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

GOOG representatives have so far failed to comment. The stock has dropped nearly one percent in trading so far today; VIA shares have gained nearly one percent.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.