Google Responds

Last week Viacom took its dispute with YouTube to the court of public opinion, having an OpEd by its head counsel published in WaPo. Not to be outdone, Google has responded in kind with a letter to the editor, calling the lawsuit "an attack on the way people communicate on the Web and on the platforms that allow people to make the Internet their own." More:

Viacom is attempting to rewrite established copyright law through a baseless lawsuit. In February, after negotiations broke down, Viacom requested that YouTube take down more than 100,000 videos. We did so immediately, working through a weekend. Viacom later withdrew some of those requests, apparently realizing that those videos were not infringing, after all. Though Viacom seems unable to determine what constitutes infringing content, its lawyers believe that we should have the responsibility and ability to do it for them. Fortunately, the law is clear, and on our side.