EFF sues Viacom over YouTube video removal

by Brad Linder Mar 22nd 2007

Okay, so let's see if we can keep this straight. First Viacom asks YouTube to remove 100,000 videos. Then after Google takes down as many videos as it can, Viacom sues the company for $1 billion, saying Google is profiting from Viacom content including clips from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Now, about a week later, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has turned around and sued Viacom, claiming that one of the videos in question was actually a parody of The Colbert Report, and protected under fair use. The video, produced by MoveOn parodies both Stephen Colbert's schtick, and MoveOn's strategy of using online petitions to effect social change.

We'd embed the video, but as we've pointed out, it's no longer up on YouTube. You can, however, still check it out at Falsiness.org.

Tags: eff, electronic frontier foundation, ElectronicFrontierFoundation, falsiness, lawsuit, moveon

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

darkbhudda said 7:58AM on 3-23-2007

What could make this funnier is if Stephen Colbert threatens to sue MoveOn.org on his show for producing such a lackluster parody.

jhr said 4:10PM on 3-23-2007

IANAL, but this suit seems unlikely to succeed.The problem is that for the notice to be considered perjury, Viacom must have intentionally lied. All they have to do is claim they mistakenly thought that the video was entirely a clip of the Colbert Report. I think for this reason, in practice the relevant part of the DMCA can only be enforced if the people sending a take-down notice don't have the right to do so for the work they are *claiming* is being infringed.

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