YouTube, Viacom legal battle

AP news reports that Viacom and YouTube began airing each other's dirty laundry yesterday in a legal battle that has been going on since 2007. Previously confidential information came out as part of the evidence in a copyright lawsuit that Viacom filed against YouTube in 2007 for alleged copyright infringement of "The Colbert Report," "The Daily Show" and other shows. YouTube's official Blog claims that "For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there." Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal law blog, Viacom, owner of Paramount Pictures, MTV and Comedy Central, cites internal YouTube memos and emails to argue that YouTube actively encouraged the distribution of infringing content, thereby disqualifying it from immunity under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.