YouTube seeks to depose Jon Stewart

[djones]

YouTube seeks to depose Jon Stewart

NEW YORK - YouTube wants to question Comedy Central comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as part of its defense against claims that the online video-sharing site illegally shows snippets of sports and entertainment videos.

The request came as part of lawsuits brought against YouTube by Viacom Inc., which owns MTV, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central; The Football Association Premier League Ltd., England's top soccer league; and indie music publisher Bourne Co.

The lawsuits claim, in essence, that YouTube profits from massive copyright infringement of television programs and feature films. The documents seeking the depositions of Stewart and Colbert pertained only to the Viacom lawsuit.

YouTube says it needs depositions from more than 30 people to fight legal challenges that "threaten to silence communications by hundreds of millions of people across the globe who exchange information, news and entertainment" through its Web site.

YouTube, owned by Google Inc., said it plans to show that it respects the importance of intellectual property rights by proving it goes well beyond what is required under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

That law gives service providers protection from copyright lawsuits as long as they comply with requests to remove unauthorized material — something YouTube says it does.

The company said it also intends to show that the plaintiffs themselves had put their own works on YouTube or permitted others to do the same.

The company did not say exactly what it intended to gain from questioning Stewart and Colbert. Colbert hosts "The Colbert Report," a spin-off of "The Daily Show," which is hosted by Stewart.

YouTube is also seeking to depose Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, CEO Philippe Dauman, general counsel Michael Fricklas and various executives with MTV, Comedy Central and other Viacom's networks.

Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig said the company had no comment on the court document.

Viacom sought $1 billion in damages for what it said was unauthorized viewing of programs from its networks.

In their lawsuit, the soccer league and indie music publisher sought unspecified damages and any profits YouTube made as a result of the sharing of copyrighted videos. The lawsuits were combined into a single trial.

As if these shows and companies don't benefit from this distribution!

Doesn't the Premier League make enough cash? It must be the fact that they sell highlight packages for their games!

 

[Regs]

Jonesy,

I've been looking at 'prediction league' software for the last couple of years and everywhere I go, I see reports of the EPL sending out letters to various website owners asking them to stop publishing fixture lists on their sites - yes, just simple who is playing who and when... I kid you not, it is a huge deal in Europe...

 

[johnnybluenose]

right, and evey booky on every street corner in London doesn't have permission to have the match lists either

This is ridiculous...They make too much money already, they must be if they can afford frivolous lawsuits against google and youtube...

I wonder how many people watch the EPL just because their booky has them hooked!? Gambling is much larger over there than it is here, especially on sport, and the booky's, youtube, googlevideo, putfile, etc all are avenues of free advertising, once they stop and see that these guys are helping them, not ruining them everyone can sleep a little sounder knowing that world has become a better place