Google to Viacom - The Law is Clear, and On Our Side

An anonymous reader writes "Google responded to the opinion piece in the Washington Post by a Viacom Lawyer with a letter to the editor titled 'An End Run on Copyright Law.' Their strong wording sends a very concrete message: 'Viacom is attempting to rewrite established copyright law through a baseless lawsuit. In February, after negotiations broke down, Viacom requested that YouTube take down more than 100,000 videos. We did so immediately, working through a weekend. Viacom later withdrew some of those requests, apparently realizing that those videos were not infringing, after all. Though Viacom seems unable to determine what constitutes infringing content, its lawyers believe that we should have the responsibility and ability to do it for them. Fortunately, the law is clear, and on our side.'"

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[Cocoronixx]

omfgpwnt

Analysis from the Future

[CheeseburgerBrown]

Optimistic: one day our grandchildren won't believe us when we tell them how ridiculous the state of intellectual property law was back in the early 21st century.

Pessimistic: we won't be allowed to tell them, for copyright reasons.

Hi From Google!

[ack154]

I think Google just drew a big middle finger over the Viacom HQ on Google Maps...

Translation

[indros13]

Viacom to Google: *snarl*

Google to Viacom: *smack*

Viacom: *whimper*

Google flicks off Viacom and says...

[TimeForGuinness]

Did you hear what I said Viacom? Or shall I turn it up for you?

Re:Analysis from the Future

[voice_of_all_reason]

sharing books was nasty and wrong--something that only pirates would do

Somehow I doubt there was ever a pirate sitting on the deck of his vessel in the early evening, sipping his tea and perusing The Lay of Leithian in his off-hours from pillaging the nearby towns.

Corporate flame wars

[Vaibhav_Locke]

The flame war has begun. Soon there'll be WTFNOOB and DIAF letters sent to the Washington Post