Zeros and Ones Look Alike Unless There Is Litigation
January 1, 2009
The law works like a giant gravity lens. Information in a legal matter gains a different atomic mass than information printed in an airplane in flight magazine. A good example of this “weight” flux appears in “Among The Clips That Viacom Sued Google Over, About 100 Were Uploaded By Viacom Itself.” The core idea is that Viacom allegedly uploaded videos to YouTube.com. These videos were then included in an exhibit listing Viacom videos on YouTube.com that alleged stepped on the copyright toes of Viacom. For me, the most interesting comment was:
Viacom sued Google over clips it claimed were infringing, that Viacom purposely uploaded to YouTube. That alone should show how ridiculous Viacom’s claims are in this lawsuit. There is simply no way for Google to know if clips are uploaded legitimately or not. Oddly, however, the court has now allowed Viacom to withdraw those clips, but lawyers like Eric Goldman are questioning how this isn’t a Rule 11 violation for frivolous or improper litigation.
Legal eagles are going to have a field day with this alleged action. As I have said before, the uploading and downloading of content is part of the warp and woof of the post 1994 crowd. This demographic includes some of the children of the legal eagles involved in this litigation. I don’t have any problem believing that a large company uploaded content to YouTube.com. At some point, other folks in that company discovered the content and promptly asserted that Google was the problem. When this happens at home, I think it is clear that parents have lost control just like the companies.
When the horse is gone, what can you do? In today’s world, you don’t want to sit and look at an empty barn. Sue somebody even if you left the stall door ajar.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 31, 2009
A freebie. I must report this to the Library of Congress. Once information gets into the Library of Congress, it is controlled. I think Viacom might want to check out the LoC’s methods.
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