Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube could mean the end of social networking as we know it, Google has told a U.S. court.

Google, which owns YouTube, said making carriers and hosting providers liable for World Wide Web communications “threatens the way hundreds of millions of public legitimately exchange info, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression.”

Viacom, the entertainment titan that owns Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, and other entertainment properties, is suing YouTube for the posting of some 160,000 unauthorized video clips.

A Digital-Age Boxing Match

In a statement in conjunction with filing its $1 billion federal copyright lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Viacom called YouTube a “significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others’ creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google.”

Viacom has taken the gloves off in a digital-age boxing match amidst two technology champions.

While YouTube has made deals with other broadcasters, Viacom is not backing down.

Google’s response to Viacom’s copyright-infringement lawsuit is stirring a debate about Web freedom. whether Google successfully defends itself against Viacom’s claims that YouTube does not qualify for safe-harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), it could have a dramatic impact on the way data is consumed online.

“The whole lawsuit is cutting edge in the sense that the DMCA, which is what Google and YouTube are relying upon as a defense, provides safe harbor for ISPs and Web-site operators like YouTube. The problem comes when the ISP or the Web operator
makes money on infringing substance,” said Melvin Avanzado, a partner at the law firm of Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro.

A Stalemate

Google maintains that it respects intellectual-property rights and goes “above and beyond” the law’s mandates. Viacom says YouTube knows about infringing material on its…

Orginal post by Top Tech News