So Please Don't Sue Us Now, Okay?

So Please Don't Sue Us Now, Okay?

Even before Google paid $1.7 billion to buy YouTube last year, the video Web site was in trouble with the big content providers, such as Viacom, for using clips from its "Daily Show" and other copyrighted material without permission. Also -- and here's what really stung -- for selling ads around that content, ad dollars that never found their way back to Viacom. So in March, Viacom cried "enough!" and slapped a $1 billion lawsuit on YouTube, which by then was owned by deep-pockets Google. On Monday, Google/YouTube rolled out filtering technology that they claim will give content-creators the ability to keep their videos off YouTube if they don't want them on the site. But as of Friday, the response from the plaintiffs was the sound of crickets chirping: Viacom has yet to withdraw its suit.

You've Got . . . a Severance Check

Remember the AOL "running man" logo? That speedy little yellow guy? Yeah, well, he's running out of the front door of Dulles-based AOL holding a pink slip in his hand. As part of the company's ongoing reorganization under chief executive Randy Falco, now a year into the job, 750 Washington-area AOL employees will be laid off in coming months, the company said last week. The remaining 3,250 AOLers left in the region might well wonder what's next for them, given that Falco announced last month that he plans to move the company to New York to be near its mothership, Time Warner, and the New York advertising industry.

The Big Mac Is Back

Or at least the breakfast burrito is back. Burger giant McDonald's said Friday that its third-quarter profit rose 27 percent, partly thanks to a boom in breakfast business and more menu diversity. The company's stock was trading at around $40 per share a year ago; on Friday, it closed at $56.42. McDonald's essentially invented Fast Food America and became a goliath so fast that rivals took a long time to catch up. But catch up they did. Not only have Wendy's and Burger King eaten into Mickey D's profits, higher-end sandwich joints such as Subway and Quiznos have taken a bite of McDonald's Big Mac. Not to mention the public relations hits the company has taken for what some say is its role in supersizing an obese America. In 2004, McDonald's scrapped the super-size menu. In 2006, the company began redesigning its restaurants to go a little more upscale. Most recently, as McDonald's executives mentioned Friday, the company has tweaked its menu to include items such as premium and iced coffees, which have taken off well enough to be expanded across the chain.

Oil Hits $90 Per Barrel, Eases Back

Oil briefly hit an all-time high of $90 per barrel on Friday, and gas prices edged up around the country to a national average of $2.81 per gallon, according to AAA, still well off the high of $3.22 per gallon in May. Though the record oil prices dinged the stock market last week, when coupled with disappointing earnings from companies such as 3M and Caterpillar, they have not yet had the sweeping and deep impact on Wall Street that some predicted months ago. Why? Some analysts point out that we're a more energy-efficient society now than we were 20 years ago, when spiking oil prices shot fear through America. Cars are more fuel-efficient (not to mention the introduction of hybrid vehicles), and energy costs are a smaller portion of a household budget now than they were two decades ago.