After 7 Years, Viacom & YouTube Settle Copyright Lawsuit

Viacom originally sued YouTube back in 2007. After three courts cases and seven years later, Google and Viacom have settled the lawsuit. No details on the settlement were given.

In 2007, Viacom brought a lawsuit against YouTube for copyright issues of "thousands" of videos users were uploading to the service. Videos were clips of viacom owned shows like SOUTH PARK, THE DAILY SHOW with JON STEWART and various Paramount films.

In 2010, a US District court ruled in favor of Google. Two years ago, a US Court of Appeals overruled thet that ruling and sent the case back to the district court. Last April (2013), that District Court judge threw out the case, giving Google another victory.

Although no details were given for the settlement, I believe that we will soon hear that the two parties will offer Viacom owned content on the streaming video service. Google would not "settle" a case that was thrown out, unless it was getting something else in return.