Google exec: We're not caving to Viacom yet
WASHINGTON--A Google executive said the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit filed this week by Viacom against its YouTube subsidiary raises some interesting legal questions, but the search giant believes it will prevail.
"I feel very confident in our positions and frankly, more importantly, our lawyers do," Elliot Schrage, the company's vice president of global communications, said in response to an audience member's question about the suit at the Politics Online Conference here.
"Nobody's started writing any checks yet," he added.
The suit, which followed what was described as months of unproductive negotiations between the companies, claims the video-sharing site is profiting from more than 160,000 clips of shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Sponge Bob Square Pants uploaded by users without permission. Google maintains it is acting within the law.
