Footwear manufacturer Pony is suing much larger (and presumably richer) foe Nike (NYSE: NKE). Pony contends that Nike has infringed on its "iconic logo" (look familiar?) in Nike's new "V for Victory" soccer advertising campaign.

Pony contends that the chevron seen on the player's chests is far too close to its chevron-based logo, which the company has used for 35 years.

Pony stated, "The key distinguishing feature of the [Nike] campaign is the use of a chevron mark, which is identical or virtually identical to the registered trademarks owned by Pony."

Does Pony have a point? Yes, but I have some problems I feel I should address here. First, I am no legal or design expert, but isn't Pony's original chevron logo a bit similar to Nike's iconic swoosh?

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.

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.