Comments for Italian TV Company MediaSet Sues Google, YouTube for $800 Million

Italian TV Company MediaSet Sues Google, YouTube for $800 Million

2008-07-30T19:30:32Z

Once again, a major media company is suing Google because of alleged copyright violations by users on YouTube, Google's popular video sharing site. Today, the Italian media company MediaSet filed a lawsuit against YouTube in Italian courts for about $800 million (500 million Euros) in damages. In a statement, the company announced that it found 4,643 videos and clips that it owned on YouTube on June 10. MediaSet claims that it lost the equivalent of of 315,672 broadcasting days because of this.

]]> MediaSet owns a number of terrestrial and satellite channels in Italy, including Canale 5, Italia 1, and Rete 4. As of now, it seems the videos that MediaSet claims as copyright violations are still available on YouTube.

Google's Reaction: Don't be Evil, Just Talk to Us

YouTube issued a statement to Bloomberg, arguing that there was simply no need for legal action, as it already prohibits all its users from uploading infringing material and cooperates "with all copyright holders to identify and promptly remove infringing content as soon as we are officially notified." From the reports we have seen so far, it was not immediately clear if MediaSet has ever approached YouTube about removing its clips before filing this lawsuit. Based on our own tests today, finding MediaSet owned videos on YouTube was a trivial exercise and we did not come across any videos with takedown notices.

Other Lawsuits

This lawsuit is quite similar to the Google/Viacom lawsuit that made a lot of headlines earlier this month when a judge ordered Google to hand over its YouTube user data to Viacom. In this lawsuit, Viacom is looking for more than $1 billion in damages because of alleged copyright violations.

This also marks the second time in two weeks that Google has run into trouble with the Italian law. Just last week, prosecutors in Italy charged Google with failing to monitor its content in the context of a video where a group of students were taunting an autistic classmate.

One Video on YouTube = One Lost TV Viewer?

Over the years, Google has always promised that it was working on a better way to recognize and remove copyrighted content from YouTube - so far, however, it has not been able to do so effectively.

For the MediaSet lawsuit, it would also seems like it would be hard to argue that every video seen on YouTube would automatically translate into lost revenue for a media company (or if it is not, in the end, also mostly advertising for at least some of the media producers).

In this case, it would actually be interesting to get a look at the raw usage data for the copyrighted videos to see how many of them were viewed outside of Italy, where user couldn't have watched the actual TV show anyway.

Comment from Napolux on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T20:34:05Z

Interesting post. This is maybe the first real battle of the war "TV VS Internet"...

Mediaset says that for every video we watch on Youtube they are losing audience, and so revenues from publishers.

IMHO it's not a reasonable equation

1 video played = 1 person lost

The only thing we can do is sit down and watch the show.

P.s.
I'm italian :)

Comment from Dario Salvelli on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T21:08:03Z

Maybe some italian manager read the Viacom vs Google querelle and this is the result. I don't know if you read the problem about Google Italia responsability in a famous YouTube videos with violent child. You can read here: http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/07/28/google-italy-could-face-criminal-charges-over-video

Comment from Mark Cohen on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T21:15:59Z

Or maybe Italy's Berlusconi suddenly figured an easy (or rather, lazy) way to raise some money for this bankrupt country (and his own TV companies)!

Comment from Robert on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T21:42:26Z

It's a lost war. Who ever wins this battle, must know that there is no point in fighting over and over again against internet.

Comment from Simone on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T21:45:06Z

Right, don't forget that the owner of Mediaset is also the guy in charge for governing italy. Don't know about Viacom in US but this looks like a tough battle for Google in Italy. I only hope that the video-monopoly we have on TV here doesn't affect the web. As of today, the only way to watch some of the videos that Berlusconi may find embarassing (like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqjAuF-eyxU) are on Youtube.
BTW I'm italian too, and I feel ashamed.

Comment from CHelmertz on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T21:57:26Z

The more mediums the show's on, the greater the possibilities are for a larger amount of users (the issue is not that TV programmes doesn't get views, it's that they don't get TV views with its commercials). With that said, internet users are accustomed with deciding when to do what, TV is the antithesis of this with it fixed broadcasting times and dead time when commercials take place. I fail to see 1) how anyone assumes people with decent internet skills would choose watching TV (with its limitations) instead of via internet, and 2) how this is not on youtube's table? It's not their right to reserve themselves of responsibility of material posted on their site, if so the law's flawed.

Comment from zeeol on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T22:05:24Z

this is a good blog site at all.

Comment from Nick Stamoulis on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T22:36:18Z

It will be interesting to see how this pans out..but as another blogger says - what will happen with companies keep suing and shut down YouTube?

Comment from chris on 2008-07-30

2008-07-30T22:39:08Z

In some cases, 1 youtube viewer = increased revenue/exposure. There are shows that i started catching on television BECAUSE i first saw clips on youtube. It is, after all, free publicity.

Comment from Glenn on 2008-07-30

2008-07-31T01:00:13Z

$800 million MediaSet never would have made anyways. Google is a rich company and they simply see a rich opportunity to score some 'money for nothing'.

Comment from Berlin on 2008-07-30

2008-07-31T01:04:23Z

It's the only way the EU can compete with Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, Myspace.. to sue the heck out of them.

Comment from Valance on 2008-07-30

2008-07-31T01:26:05Z

Yes, the Viacom battle probably has taught them a lesson or two. Nevertheless, the internet is still uncharted territory with fewer rules. Lawsuits like this, regardless of the outcome, surely push the internet towards more regulation. I'm interested to see what battles like this will collectively do to the future of the internet.

Comment from gregory lent on 2008-07-31

2008-07-31T07:12:37Z

a lifetime of litigation is a cost of success

Comment from Night on 2008-07-31

2008-07-31T07:25:00Z

1- The autistic classmate video was an hoax, mediaset though it was true.
2- Mediaset use youtube video to make entire show without pay anyone or ask permission

Comment from Marco on 2008-07-31

2008-07-31T10:29:19Z

I guesss we all agree the whole lawsuit story from Mediaset is complete nonsense, but there's something that makes me laugh from YouTube too: they say there was no need for legal action because it is already prohibited to upload infringing material.

With this they mean we're not gonna spend a cent on controlling what our users upload, until you "officially notify me".

I'm a small site owner driven by user generated content; do you really think I can afford to behave like that? I don't think so