In case you haven’t heard (where have you been?) Google announced that the rumours were true after all and that they have agreed to buy YouTube for $1.65bn.
Yep. You read that correctly, $1.65bn.
Unsurprisingly, this is the top story on TechMeme.
It looks like Google believes video on the web has a real future and YouTube’s legal troubles (they are being threatened with litigation for copyright infringement) are a price they are willing to pay.
For the people thinking of suing YouTube this has got to have them down on their knees thanking their deity of choice! Instead of suing YouTube – a company with no significant assets, they now get to sue Google – one of the world’s wealthiest companies!
Comments
4 responses to “Google's windfall for copyright claimants”
But are they also getting googles big legal team against them?
D’oh!
that hadn’t occurred to me Simon – well done for spotting that gaping maw in my argument!
[…] Tom Raftery / Tom Raftery’s I.T. views: Google’s windfall for copyright claimants […]
[…] I wrote, shortly after Google bought YouTube, that this purchase was a potential windfall for YouTube copyright claimants however recent happenings are proving me wrong (imagine that!). Prof Tim Wu (Professor of Law at Columbia) wrote recently in an article in Slate that YouTube (or GooTube as people are now taking to calling it): is in much better legal shape than anyone seems to want to accept. The site enjoys a strong legal “safe harbor,” a law largely respected by the television and film industries for the choices it gives them. […]