Viacom’s use of YouTube will show that Viacom can control availab...
Viacom’s use of YouTube will show that Viacom can control availability of its content on the video-sharing site, Google said in support of a motion to compel production of records from BayTSP, Viacom’s antipiracy service provider. The motion filed…
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Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose - - whose territory includes Google’s and BayTSP’s headquarters -- follows a request by Viacom in federal court in New York for YouTube to turn over records that could show that YouTube employees themselves uploaded infringing content. Google filed its original subpoena to BayTSP in San Jose in Sept. 2007, then started 10 months of negotiation with BayTSP, “yet not a single document has been produced” and BayTSP continues raising “boilerplate objections,” the filing said. Google filed its 2007 request for subpoena and its second request Oct. 17 before Judge James Ware. The case has since been referred to Judge Patricia Trumbull, who will hear arguments Dec. 2. Google said NBC Universal’s top lawyer has praised YouTube’s filtering and takedown system, and that before Viacom filed suit, BayTSP had also praised YouTube’s approach, having frequently sent DMCA requests to YouTube on behalf of Viacom. Records of BayTSP’s work for Viacom and other content companies will show that they “routinely upload their own video clips to YouTube, typically without disclosing their conduct, to reap the free promotional value that the service provides,” the filing said. BayTSP had a “white list” of content from Viacom that it wasn’t supposed to remove through takedown requests, Google said. Viacom’s request for $1 billion in damages will be undercut if BayTSP documents show that the media company “knowingly allowed (and indeed desired) clips… to remain freely accessible” through other video sites and even YouTube before the suit, Google said. It was especially peeved at what the company called BayTSP’s “orchestrated delay.” At Viacom’s direction, the company continued monitoring YouTube for several months without sending takedown notices, then just before the suit was filed, BayTSP sent 100,000 requests in a single day, Google said. BayTSP can’t credibly claim to be independent party that can’t be compelled to turn over documents, because it was acting as Viacom’s enforcement agent, the filing said.