Court Compels Google to Provide Viacom with YouTube Video Data

NEW YORK, July 3: A U.S.
court has ruled that Google must provide data on every video watched on YouTube
to Viacom, which is in the midst of a $1 billion lawsuit against the
search-engine giant.

Last year, Viacom filed a
suit against Google alleging “massive intentional copyright infringement” of
its content on the video-sharing site YouTube. At the time, Viacom maintained
that there were more than 160,000 unauthorized clips of shows from Viacom-owned
channels on the site. Also a defendant in the suit with Viacom is the U.K.’s
Football Association Premier League.

As part of the suit,
Viacom sought a court order to obtain YouTube’s “logging” database, which
contains data on what videos were watched and when, as well as the logins and
IP addresses of the people who watched them. Judge Louis L. Stanton of the New
York District Court granted the order, noting that the “plaintiffs’ need for
the data outweighs the un-quantified and unsubstantiated cost of producing that
information.” Viacom has also asked for data on the complete universe of videos
on the site—“to identify alleged infringements…to find evidence” and to
determine what percentage of content on the site has been restricted, reviewed
or flagged. Judge Stanton denied this request, noting, “No sufficiently
compelling need is shown to justify the analysis of ‘millions of pieces of
information’ sought by this request.”

The court also denied the
request for the source code that controls Google’s own search engine, which
also powers YouTube’s. Google filed a protective order barring the disclosure
of the code, arguing that it was responsible for the company’s success and
could not be revealed without “risking the loss of the business.” The court also
rejected the request for the code to Google’s Video ID program, which enables
copyright owners to provide markers in their clips, so that YouTube can better
identify content that has been infringed upon.

Viacom will, however, be
granted access to all videos that have been removed from YouTube for any
reason.

—By Mansha Daswani