Viacom and Google have settled the copyright lawsuit that Viacom alleged that YouTube ignored copyright infringement on the video hosting site. Viacom placed this lawsuit way back in 2007, and has been ongoing since. YouTube had won twice because Viacom failed to prove that YouTube knew what users were uploading to the website.
“Google and Viacom today jointly announced the resolution of the Viacom vs. YouTube copyright litigation. This settlement reflects the growing collaborative dialogue between our two companies on important opportunities, and we look forward to working more closely together.”
The details of the deal are not public, but people close to the deal say that no money traded hands. The $1 billion lawsuit seems to be water under the bridge, and it seems that Google has come out the clear winner. Now, Google’s shift towards officially sanctioned content definitely helped YouTube argue they had no knowledge of the illegal content.