Italy's MediaSet Sues YouTube; Seeking At Least $800 Million Damages

Discussion Policy

Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

Joseph Weisenthal

paidContent.org
Wednesday, July 30, 2008; 2:07 PM

More copyright headaches for Google ( NSDQ: GOOG) and YouTube? Italy's MediaSet says it is suing the video site for at least $800 million, claiming the standard complaints about illegal distribution of commercial audio and video files. The firm joins Viacom ( NYSE: VIA) and France's TF1 in making the claim. Already, Spain's Telecinco, which is owned by MediaSet, has filed suit against the video sharing site. In response, YouTube offered up a 'we respect copyright' statement, according to Reuters. In addition to representing a new front in its ongoing fights over copyrighted material, this is Google's second recent setback in Italy. Last week, Italian Prosecutors said they would charge four Google execs for failing to monitor content, including a video of youths taunting an autistic classmate. MediaSet was founded by Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Bloomberg:"According to a sample analysis run by Mediaset on June 10, at least 4,643 videos belonging to the company were found on YouTube. That equals more than 325 hours of broadcasting without corresponding rights, the company said. Mediaset claims that, based on the number of its clips available on YouTube and the hits generated, the broadcaster lost the equivalent of 315,672 broadcasting days."

Italian Prosecutors To Charge Google Execs Over Third-Party Content

Viacom-YouTube: User Logs Will Be Anonymized

Spain?s Telecinco TV Channel Sues YouTube, Seeks Damages

Viacom Ups Ante In YouTube Copyright Spat: Google More Than A Mere Enabler