Viacom, Google accuse each other over YouTube

BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Google vs. Viacom copyright-infringement case rose again to the boiling point as documents made public Thursday by the U.S. District Court provide fascinating insights into the case.

This lengthy quarrel, which dates back to 2007, centers on Viacom's claim that Google's YouTube video-sharing site allowed users to upload more than 100,000 video clips from Viacom-owned networks and movie studios.

Viacom charged that Google and YouTube executives were aware videos were being illegally uploaded to the site, failed to stop it, and, in some cases, broke the law by adding copyrighted clips themselves, according to court documents released on Thursday as reported by the Reuters.

"YouTube was intentionally built on infringement and there are countless internal YouTube communications demonstrating that YouTube's founders and its employees intended to profit from that infringement," Viacom said in a statement on Thursday, as the documents were released.

Google countered that Viacom managers continued to secretly upload content to YouTube even after the media company had filed the 1 billion dollar copyright suit in March 2007.

Google also claimed Viacom attempted but failed to buy YouTube in 2006.