Viacom files billion-dollar lawsuit against YouTube and Google

NEW YORK – Saying that recent talks had gone nowhere and that YouTube has posted over 160,000 clips from Viacom sources, the media company that owns CBS, MTV, BET, Spike and others, has sued YouTube and its new owner Google for US$1 billion. Specifically, the lawsuit is "for massive intentional copyright infringement of Viacom’s entertainment properties," says Viacom. The suit seeks more than $1 billion in damages, as well as an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from further copyright infringement. The complaint contends that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom’s programming have been available on YouTube and that these clips...