Viacom orders YouTube to take down 100,000 clips

All infringe of Viacom channels' copyright

6 February 2007 14:27 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Cable channel provider Viacom has demanded that YouTube remove more than 100,000 video clips that it says violates its copyright after talks between it and Google proved fruitless.

The clips are from Comedy Central shows as well as those on Nickelodeon, MTV, and VH1, amongst others.

Viacom says that the clips account for more than a billion video streams, for which it receives nothing from Google.

Apparently Google, YouTube's parent company, had agreed in talks held in October to provide content filters so that copyright owners could be notified when their clips were uploaded or being played.

However, although YouTube says that it is working on the technology, it isn't ready yet.

"It's unfortunate that Viacom will no longer be able to benefit from YouTube's passionate audience, which has helped to promote many of Viacom's show", YouTube said, in a statement.

On it's side, a Viacom spokesperson has said, "Filtering tools promised repeatedly by YouTube and Google have not been put in place, and they continue to host and stream vast amounts of unauthorised video".

"YouTube and Google retain all of the revenue generated from this practice, without extending fair compensation to the people who have expended all of the effort and cost to create it."