Viacom's suit seeks a better way to remove copyright-violating YouTube uploads. Why don't content creators and Web sites both foot the bill?To hear Google (GOOG) tell it, Viacom (VIA) wants to unravel the social Web. If Viacom had its druthers, Web sites that rely on user-generated content would be held responsible when users upload material that violates copyrights, Google argues in a public response to Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit accusing Google of copyright infringement.
The implication, Google argues, is that services like video-sharing site YouTube would have trouble getting off the ground. "Viacom's lawsuit challenges the protections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that Congress enacted a decade ago to encourage the development of services like YouTube," Google wrote in its May 26 response. "Congress recognized that such services could not and would not exist if they faced liability for copyright infringement based on materials users uploaded to their services."
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