Viacom is now being blamed for secretly uploading copyright infringing content by YouTube's chief counsel, Zahavah Levine. This announcement comes as the court prepares to render a decision in the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit Viacom (VIA) brought against Google's (GOOG) Internet video giant, YouTube.

Attorney Levine has stated in a blog post: "For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there."

Continue reading YouTube Attorney Alleges Viacom Set Up

YouTube Attorney Alleges Viacom Set Up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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.

Continue reading Google Convicted of Copyright Infringement in France

Google Convicted of Copyright Infringement in France originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

J.K. Rowling wins Harry Potter encyclopedia lawsuit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) and Mattel (NYSE: MAT), which own the right to Scrabble, are none too pleased with Scrabulous, a knockoff of the game that has gained tremendous popularity as an application on Facebook.

The game-makers have sent cease and desist notices to four parties involved with the production and distribution of Scrabulous, but it isn't immediately clear who those parties are.

In a statement, Hasbro said that it hoped to reach an amicable solution, but that, "If we cannot come to one quickly, we will be forced to close down the site and its associated distribution points."

The obvious solution is to make the game a fully-licensed version of Scrabble, and give Hasbro and Mattel a cut of the ad revenue it generates. Such a move would also probably boost sales of the board game at retail stores as people realize that Scrabble is actually pretty fun.

According (subscription required) to the Wall Street Journal, "While there are authorized Scrabble games online, Scrabulous has gained popularity because it's free, easy to play with friends and easy to access on Facebook. Scrabulous listed more than 600,000 daily active users on Facebook as of Wednesday and is one of the 10 most used applications on the site. People can also play at Scrabulous.com."

Scrabble-makers go after popular Facebook knockoff originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Is TechCrunch being Punk'd? A case of Google voodoo and Ashton Kutcher's bare torso originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Dallas lawsuit: Flickr photo cause headaches for ad execs, Virgin

Dallas lawsuit: Flickr photo cause headaches for ad execs, Virgin originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Prince fights eBay (EBAY) and YouTube (GOOG) over copyright infringement originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

How does a company like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) keep huge numbers of people in countries like Indonesia and China from using pirated copies of its software? According to Craig Mundie, Microsoft chief research and strategy officer, for now, there is little the company can do. He told Reuters: "We are realistic in recognizing that we have to work diligently over periods, that are really a decade or two, to make real progress in a number of these environments."

That means that tens of million of copies of Windows could easily bring Redmond not a single dime. It also means that the company is relying on local officials to support anti-piracy laws. Policing such large populations really isn't possible.

But, Mundie may be acting a bit cute. In all likelihood, the answer for thwarting pirates has nothing to do with laws and police. Microsoft and other large software companies are almost certainly working diligently to make ripping and copying software much more difficult. They would at least have as a goal putting in a set of systems which would disable may of the software's features if copying were attempted.

If selling a version of Window in China yields $100 and there are, say 20 million copies of pirated versions distributed per year, it add up to real money, even for Microsoft. Odds are that the problem is solved through programming and local laws to prevent stealing be damned.

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

Microsoft says crushing piracy could take decades originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Another bidding process for EMI: what does this mean for DRM? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 May 2007 17:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) purchased YouTube, a lot of people wondered if it would cause YouTube's death, as media companies who'd had content reposted on YouTube without permission would have a large cash cow to sue. And if they were successfull in getting their proprietary content off the site, would YouTube still be able to grow and thrive?

This morning Google faced the large issue head on at the Web2.0 Expo in San Francisco when CEO Eric Schmidt talked about larger media concerns about copyright protection. According to TechCheckDaily.com Google will be rolling out a "CYC," a claim your own content tool so that IP owners can worry about YouTube a lot less.

Details are sketchy right now, but it does make for an interesting twist as Google uses its coding skills to try and fix a problem media companies have used litigation for.

Andrew Struthers, an individual who spent a great deal of time and effort to record a million hit wonder YouTube sensation had his video Spiders on Drugs stolen and repurposed by another YouTube user (and even sold to Ebaum's world when that person didn't even own the rights to it) instead of that person just linking it or embedding it. You can read his story and imagine that someone like him might have enjoyed having a Google CYC system he could have used, as the Andrew Struthers of the world can't afford million dollar lawyers with bevies of takedown notices working for them.

Google moves to fix YouTube copyright concerns originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Viacom has had it -- sues Google for $1 billion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

U.S. stock markets are poised to open higher today following a rebound in Asia. Dow Industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 index futures all advanced.

But investors' re-minted optimism may not last long.

Later today, the U.S. Labor Department is expected to revise its fourth-quarter productivity growth rate downward, while a U.S. Commerce Department report is expected to show a decline in January factory orders, according to the Associated Press. The National Association of Realtors also is due to report January pending home sales figures.

These are confusing times. Even I can't remember the right date for this post.

Forget about Bill O'Reilly, you are about the enter the real no-spin zone.

With an apparent straight face, DaimlerChrylser AG (NYSE:DCX) Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said that his company's willingness to dump -- I mean sell -- Chrysler isn't the result of pressure from either shareholders or his advisory board. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the lovable Dr. Z calls it "proactive development, not a reactive development." How do you say BS in German?

U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who apparently has been working with Dr. Z's PR consultants, told an audience in Japan that rising defaults among subrpime lenders won't spread to less risky creditors, according to Blooomberg News. Time to start snapping up shares of New Century Financial Corp. (NYSE:NEW).

Those boy scouts at Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) are apparently ready to say mean things about Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) cavalier attitude toward copyrights. When asked to comment, Google asked if "copyright" was some new Web 2.0 application or a new jam band. No seriously, Google chief counsel David Drummond repeated the company's line that it complies with existing laws. Then he started doing an impression of Aretha Franklin much to the horror of everyone.

But the gold star for excellence in public relations has to go to AAA Travel Group spokesman Geoff Sundstrum for this insightful analysis about the 12.2 cent rise in gasoline prices last week. "Certainly, no one wants to pay a high price for gasoline. But if you're feeling good about your job and your income, you're much more willing to do that than if you're concerned as to whether you'll be working a month or two from now," he told USA Today.

Interesting. I didn't realize that people with steady jobs are less worried about spending than those without them.

Before the Bell 3-06-07: Dow set to rise along with corporate spin originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Mar 2007 08:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Late Friday, YouTube announced a partnership with BBC. According to the press release, the partnership will "create branded BBC 'Channels' on YouTube operating under separate BBC and BBC Worldwide agreements." The three channels would be the BBC, the BBC Worldwide, and the BBC World. This partnership allows BBC to "bring new audiences to the proposed BBC iPlayer service, and to secure commercial revenue via BBC Worldwide," according to the release on YouTube's website.

This partnership is important because it shows that YouTube is continually interested in working with content-owners to keep interesting material on YouTube. These partnerships are typically the result of discussions between companies and YouTube due to the copyright disputes with which YouTube must frequently deal. Companies (rightfully so, in my opinion) are cracking down on YouTube for allowing users to post copyrighted material on the website. YouTube is dealing with this problem the right way -- by creating solutions that make sense for both YouTube and the content-owning company.

YouTube strikes a partnership with BBC originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 04 Mar 2007 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Installing pirated Microsoft software isn't criminal in Russia? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Feb 2007 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2006. Vote for YouTube as the up and comer of 2006, or check out the other nominees in the category.

My six year old and I share a fascination for YouTube, the viral video-sharing site that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) recently acquired for $1.65 billion. I got interested in the site last April after I read an article in Slate about the lip-syncing phenomenon on YouTube and then shared a few videos mentioned with my daughter.

We quickly became fans of the Two Chinese Boys and then went on to look at other Chinese music videos (this is a really catchy tune). I've been able to introduce her to Elvis in all his Las Vegas glory, early R.E.M., and just today, Donny and Marie. That reminds me, I bet there are some Captain and Tennille videos I should dig up to show her as well ...

Just in writing this post, we've ended up yet again as a family gathering around the computer viewing choice items found on YouTube. My husband just walked away frustrated once more that we wouldn't spend more time searching out game-winning shots from famous basketball games from the 1970s.

Continue reading Best & Worst: YouTube's journey from niche video site to $1.65 billion Web wonder

Best & Worst: YouTube's journey from niche video site to $1.65 billion Web wonder originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Universal Music sues MySpace.com...here we go originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Nov 2006 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This week, at the Web 2.0 conference, a high-profile executive at Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Marissa Mayer, talked about the key to success for YouTube. That is, the popular web site essentially made it very easy for users to post videos. (hey, isn't speed and ease-of-use a key value propositions of the Google search engine, as well?).

However, I think this is half right. After all, there are many sites that are basically YouTube look-alikes. Rather, another key reason for the huge success of YouTube is that it allowed easy uploading of copyrighted content. In other words, why wouldn't people want to view this stuff for free?

Now, with Google's ownership, the company realizes it needs to deal with potential copyright litigation. In fact, in the company's latest quarterly report, there is this eerie statement: "Adverse results in these lawsuits may include awards of damages and may also result in, or even compel, a change in our business practices, which could result in a loss of revenue for us or otherwise harm our business."

To deal with this, YouTube has cut deals with several media companies. However, there is no indication of what YouTube is paying for this.

Also, YouTube has been taking down videos. The problem then is: Doesn't the site get less attractive if there is not as much content?

With the extremely bright programmers at Google, it seems like the company could have built a super-fast video site. But, of course, Google decided to pay $1.65 billion for YouTube.

I think investors should get better explanation for the deal -- other than YouTube was a fast site.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Financial Statements.

Why did Google buy YouTube? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 10 Nov 2006 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This week, the FT.com had an interesting story on Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) alleged travails with its newest property, YouTube. In other words, the company is trying to avoid massive copyright litigation.

This should not be a surprise. Hey, I actually did an interview with the CEO of vMiX, who provided some great insights on the topic (and perhaps some good warnings as well).

Interestingly enough, the rumor is that about $500 million of the acquisition's $1.65 billion purchase price has been reserved for possible litigation.

Actually, if history is any guide, copyright violation can be lethal for Internet property. This was the case with sites like MP3.com and Napster.

The problem is that Google needs to strike deals with all the big traditional media companies, or else not use the content (which makes YouTube less interesting). Also, might a traditional media company also sue for prior violations? After all, the media industry certainly sees Google as a big threat.

Basically, whether there are lawsuits or settlements, it looks like there will be a big payday for traditional media companies. In other words, content is still king.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

YouTube going down the tubes? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In light of the $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube, who wouldn't want a piece of the company? Well, according to a NY Times article, a number of major media companies invested in YouTube before the purchase, and they are in line for a major payoff.

The following music companies got stock in YouTube before the Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) purchase: Sony, Vivendi, and Warner Music Group.

This was all part of the licensing deals the music companies struck with YouTube to use copyrighted content. These traditional media companies are not stupid. The equity positions are worth around $50 million. Not bad for a couple week's work.

Many analysts and pundits have said that copyright exposure is the death knell for YouTube. But keep in mind that YouTube's major investor, Sequoia, has lots of experience with these matters. After all, the fund was also an investor in MP3.com, which underwent much trauma with copyright litigation.

It looks like Sequoia learned a lot from the experience. This time around, with YouTube, the fund has developed some creative structures to balance content rights and online distribution.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

Media companies owning a stake in YouTube originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Via Computerworld Blogs Bill Gates stumbled into admitting in a WSJ interview that, yes, he too -- of all people -- has consumed copyrighted content that has not been paid for. Makes you feel a tad bit better about "borrowing" that Flight program back in college, doesn't it?

This brings to mind a serious issue, what is "fair" in fair use, and is what I consider fair for MY use, the same thing I consider fair when OTHERS use content of mine?

Bill Gates' true genius lies in his business sense, and the MSFT chairman's Open Letter to Hobbyists is arguably one of the defining documents  of the digital age. If Gates didn't figure out a way to start getting paid in the '70's the economic imperative might have been slower to overtake computer programming, and we might all be poorer for it today. On the other hand, any company, any "maker," should beware of alienating the very groups it wishes to market too by overzealous pursuit of copyright protection. Nobody roots for Javert and he did end up throwing himself into the Seine.  "Stolen", really is a strong word, as Gates says, for this stuff, and maybe a little good will is cheaper than a lot of resentment.

For more info on "copyfighting", broadcast flags, censorship and many other significant issues yet to be worked out visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Defending Freedom in the Digital Age.

Stolen: "a strong word" originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.