Early Morning Media Humor

by Tim Anderson — Old Dominion University
March 01, 2007 – 12:42

I am about to hit the class room and I thought you all could use a dose of The Onion...

NEW YORK—In a cease-and-desist letter sent to Google's attorneys last week, media conglomerate Viacom demanded that YouTube immediately pull 400,000 ex-TV viewers from its industry-leading video-sharing site. "These viewers clearly belong to Viacom and its related entertainment subsidiaries," stated the letter, which called the co-opted viewership "the result of an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars by our company." "Should YouTube fail to adequately address this blatant infringement, Viacom will not hesitate to assert its ownership rights to its intellectual property."

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And the non-Onion version of

by Jeremy Butler — University of Alabama
March 14, 2007 – 11:55

And the non-Onion version of this story:

Viacom sues Google, YouTube for $1 billion

Media conglomerate claims massive intentional copyright infringement.

March 13, 2007

NEW YORK - MTV owner Viacom Inc. sued the popular video-sharing site YouTube and its corporate parent, Google Inc., Tuesday, seeking more than $1 billion in damages on claims of widespread copyright infringement.

Viacom claims that YouTube has displayed nearly 160,000 unauthorized video clips from its cable networks, which also include Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, marks a sharp escalation of long-simmering tensions between Viacom and YouTube and represents the biggest confrontation to date between a major media company and the hugely popular video-sharing site, which Google bought in November for $1.76 billion.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17592285/