Google: Threat to YouTube is a threat to the web

27th May 2008

Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube is a threat to online freedom, according to Google, which bought the video streaming site two years ago.

David Eun, vice-president of content partnerships with Google, expressed the firm's intention to take the fight "all the way to the Supreme Court", reports the BBC.

Lawyers for Google claim that the lawsuit, which accuses YouTube of allowing the unauthorised distribution of film and TV clips, "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information".

Viacom filed a rewritten version of its lawsuit, which was originally launched last year, in April.

According to the media company, it has evidence of more than 150,000 cases in which YouTube enabled the broadcast of video content without the permission of the copyright owner.

Meanwhile, comScore reported last week that viewing of TV shows on the web in the US rose by four per cent last month, with Yahoo! leading the sector.