YouTube under fire as competition circles

E-Brief News reports that the technology will assist media companies identify pirated videos uploaded by users, but the technology is being used as a bargaining chip for the licensing deals. MySpace – YouTube\'s biggest rival – has entered the fray by offering its own version of copyright protection services for free. A spokesperson for Viacom, described YouTube\'s proposition that it will only protect copyrighted content if there\'s a business deal in place as \'unacceptable\'. AustralianIT reports that Viacom has become the poster child of dissent against YouTube, trying to prevent the site from turning into the Apple Inc. of online video. YouTube said the process of identifying copyrighted material was not an automated process and required the co-operation of media company partners. For instance, a clip of a TV show owned by one company might contain music produced by another, making the process of identifying ownership difficult. As media companies struggle to reclaim control over their movies, television shows and music in a world of online file-sharing software, they have found an ally in software of another kind. The New York Times reports that the new technological weapon is content-recognition software, which makes it possible to identify copyrighted material, even, for example, from blurry video clips. The technology could address what the entertainment industry sees as one of its biggest problems – songs and videos being posted on the Web without permission. MySpace said it would use Audible Magic’s system to identify copyrighted material on its pages. Full AustralianIT report Full report in The New York Times

Despite the public vitriol between YouTube and the media industry, some industry experts dismiss the spats as little more than saber rattling ahead of eventual deals. Media companies – torn over how best to court younger viewers who split their leisure time between watching TV, surfing the Internet and playing video games – are attempting to make their programming more widely available, especially on popular services such as YouTube. \'The debates are about negotiations more than anything else – who\'s going to pay whom and how much,\' said Saul Berman, IBM\'s global media and entertainment strategy leader. According to a report on the foxnews.com site, some legal experts say YouTube has no obligation to invest heavily in leading-edge technology, only to give it away. \'There\'s no reason for me to spend a lot of money on a ... solution and give it away for free,’ said Gregory Rutchik, founding partner of San Francisco-based piracy litigation firm The Arts & Technology Law Group. Full report on the foxnews.com site

In other developments relating to the case, a watchdog group is encouraging those wrongly accused of posting pirated Viacom material on YouTube to stand up to the giant conglomerate — even if it means a court fight. Two weeks ago, when Viacom demanded that YouTube remove videos featuring unauthorised clips of its films or TV shows, some innocent users got caught up in the sweep, said the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). In a video posted to YouTube last week, EFF said it wanted to hear from anyone who may have been unfairly blamed. CNET News reports that two such examples include the removal of a homemade movie of a group of friends eating ribs and a trailer for a documentary about a gay professional wrestler, both of which contained no Viacom copyrighted material, EFF said. EFF compared Viacom\'s actions to fishermen who cast a wide net and mistakenly trap a porpoise. The group suggested in a note on its Web site that some of those accused of copyright violations may need legal help. Full CNET News report