Viacom v. Google

While I realize that allegations between the two companies are highly sensational, I believe we must understand the context in which they arose. On the one hand, Viacom's own actions in uploading their content are questionable to say the least. It's similar to what occurred in Feist Publications v. Rural Telephones, 499 U.S. 340 (1991) ( "Four of these were fictitious listings that Rural had inserted into its directory to detect copying"). And much like the widespread public adoption/acceptance of the betamax recorder in Sony v. Universal Studios, by the time that case reached oral arguments before the Supreme Court, more than five million consumers had purchased these recorders, YouTube can generate views of greater than 1 million from almost an hour. Further, as admitted by Viacom, all of the conduct post-installation of the filter is fine. I think that Google's counsel must do what they can to provide greater context by the founders as to those emails. In business, its common to hear executives speak in terms of "going to war against its competitors," yet, that is not necessarily enough by itself to hold someone liable.

In this day and age of evolving business models and dynamic technological trends, the laws must provide for some flexibility as consumers and business owners find solutions to fit within its bounds.