YouTube repels Viacom's billion-dollar

A JUDGE has thrown out a billion-dollar copyright suit the owners of MTV and Paramount Pictures filed against YouTube.

In what is a major legal victory for the video website, US District Court Judge Louis Stanton said that YouTube was protected against Viacom's claims of "massive copyright infringement" by provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The 1998 legislation provides protection for internet firms from copyright violations by their users, and the judge ruled that YouTube's actions, such as quickly removing infringing videos when requested, were in line with the Act.

YouTube's owner, Google, welcomed the ruling, while Viacom vowed to appeal.

Viacom, which owns MTV, VH1 and Paramount studios, sued Google and YouTube in March 2007, arguing that they condoned pirated video clips at the website to boost its popularity.

The lawsuit was merged with a similar complaint by the English Premier League, which said football clips were also routinely posted on YouTube without authorisation.

"This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other," Google lawyer Kent Walker said.

Viacom's lawyer Michael Fricklas said the company was disappointed but was confident it would win on appeal.

"Copyright protection is essential to the survival of creative industries," he said.

"It is illegal for companies to build businesses with creative material they've stolen from others."

YouTube's New

The redesign eliminates one of the chief irritants to tubesters: clutter.

"We heard from users that there are a lot of unnecessary features and clutter that could be cleaned up," YouTube spokesperson Chris Dale told TechNewsWorld.

"Video is the center of our universe, and it's the center of the user's universe, and that is much clearer in this redesign than it has been in the past," he maintained. "We're bringing everything back to centering on the video experience and how the users are engaging in that video."

To avert clutter, the redesign groups all the information about a video in one place, and its detail can be obtained in a consistent way.

The action bar on a video's page has also been cleaned up, and the presentation of controls for sharing, flagging and embedding videos streamlined.

YouTube signs landmark deal to screen Channel 4 shows

Channel 4 has signed a landmark deal with YouTube, becoming the first broadcaster worldwide to make full-length TV shows such as Skins, Hollyoaks and Peep Show available to users of the Google-owned video-sharing website.

The deal, which has been under negotiation for the last six months, will see Channel 4 make its existing 4oD online video catch-up service available via YouTube shortly after shows have aired on TV.

YouTube users can watch the shows free of charge, with Channel 4 to sell the advertising around the content. The broadcaster will also make available 3,000 hours of archive programming including shows such as Brass Eye, Derren Brown and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

The deal has been struck for an initial period of three years with Channel 4 and YouTube sharing ad revenues "on an agreed formula". Channel 4 said that the agreement will also see it sell ads around some non-Channel 4 content on YouTube for the first time.

"Making our programmes directly accessible to YouTube's 20 million UK users will financially benefit both Channel 4 and our independent production partners and help bolster our investment in quality British content," said Andy Duncan, the Channel 4 chief executive.

"It demonstrates our ability to strike dynamic commercial partnerships to help underpin our future as a commercially funded, not-for-profit multi-platform public service network."

Channel 4's TV shows will be fully available via YouTube in early 2010. The deal is non-exclusive, allowing Channel 4 to continue distributing its 4oD service via its own website, Channel4.com, and other third-party sites and services