The Biz of Coding

Viacom slaps $ 1 B lawsuit on Google - Mark Cuban’s YouTube prediction coming true?

by Ujwal Tickoo on March 14th, 2007

A few weeks before Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion, Mark Cuban had publicly stated that buyer of YouTube would be a "moron". His public predictions about the sure downfall of YouTube might just be coming true. Viacom has sued Google for US $ 1 billion over the issue of "massive intentional copyright infringments" by YouTube. (Viacom is a media giant that owns MTV, Paramount Pictures etc.)

There is a pattern in what has happened now.

• Breakdown of Google's talks with Media companies
• Viacom demanding removal of 100,000 "unauthorized" clips from YouTube
• Viacom deciding to offer its programmed content to Joost, the start-up founded by Niklas Zennstroem & Janus Friis (who also founded Skype).
• MySpace signing up with Audible Magic for Content Filtering while Google dragged its feet.
• Google's CEO admitting that they were "arrogant" and resetting expectations about monetizing Video Ads at YouTube 
• Public airing of dissatisfaction with Google by Media Companies — to the extent of calling it a "Mafia"

For the last several weeks Media companies have aired their dissatisfaction with the way Google has negotiated with them. Some publicly calling Google's/YouTube approach to that of a "Mafia" — when Google stated that it will work on content filtering only for partner media companies.

  This meant that if some media company didn't wish to partner with Google — its pirated video content could appear on YouTube since Google wouldn't attempt to do content filtering for non-partners! Myspace on the other hand agreed to offer its version of copyright protection services to Media companies for free.

When I read Schmidt acknowledging that Google could be arrogant I rememberd this quote I read at despair.com "Power corrupts. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely. But it rocks absolutely, too.”. I couldn't make out whether Schmidt's acknowledgement was a sort of apology or whether it was a "oh yeah we are big and we can do whatever we want" statement.

  Success sometimes blinds people and companies. Google seems to be going down that path. Its a sad route for a company that many thought would clean up the world with its early "Do No Evil" start-up philosophy but lost its way somewhere. I can't stop wondering about the future of Google when I see the GEVIL Images on Google Image Search.

POSTED IN: Google