Viacom Sues Google and YouTube, Seeking $1 Billion

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Viacom Inc., producer of the ``Daily Show,'' sued YouTube and owner Google Inc. for more than $1 billion for violating its copyrights, challenging the business that made YouTube the most-popular video-sharing site.

The suit, brought in federal court in New York, alleges ``massive intentional'' copyright infringement.

Viacom escalated the dispute after failing to reach an agreement over the posting of more than 150,000 shows such as ``South Park'' and ``The Colbert Report'' on YouTube. The suit, which follows court challenges by News Corp. and producer Mark Cuban, is the most aggressive action against the Web site.

``Viacom is taking a very strong stance,'' said James Goss, an analyst at Barrington Research in Chicago who has an ``outperform'' rating on Viacom. ``The issue is control over what you own. With the lawsuit, they want to draw a line in the sand as the whole process develops.''

Viacom said YouTube users have posted unauthorized clips of shows, which also include Nickelodeon's ``SpongeBob SquarePants'' and MTV's ``MTV Unplugged.'' The snippets have been viewed 1.5 billion times, Viacom said.

YouTube showed ``brazen disregard'' for copyright, Viacom said in the suit, and has ``deliberately chosen not to take reasonable precautions to deter the rampant infringement on its site.''

	Viacom Sues YouTube Over Copyrights	Associated Press	Tue Mar 13	47
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