YouTube’s Legal Troubles Grow By $779 Million

Jul 30th, 2008 | By | Category: General, Internet TV, Streaming Video

Google’s YouTube troubles just got kicked up a notch.

Italian media company Mediaset SpA is suing YouTube and its owner, Google, for at least 500 million euros ($779 million).

Mediaset claims that Google and YouTube carried out the “illegal distribution and commercial use of audio and video files,” according to a Bloomberg report:

According to a sample analysis run by Mediaset on June 10, at least 4,643 videos belonging to the company were found on YouTube. That equals more than 325 hours of broadcasting without corresponding rights, the company said.

Mediaset claims that, based on the number of its clips available on YouTube and the hits generated, the broadcaster lost the equivalent of 315,672 broadcasting days.

The claim of 500 million euros corresponds to “immediate damages,” Mediaset said in the statement.

Google already has a billion-dollar Viacom lawsuit on its plate.

Given YouTube’s size and popularity, its massive library of user-submitted videos, and Google’s deep pockets, the YouTube legal battles are probably just getting started.

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