Viacom, Google Settle YouTube Copyright Suit -- Update

By Michael Calia 

Google Inc. and Viacom Inc. on Tuesday said they have resolved copyright litigation related to Google's YouTube service.

The terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.

"Google and Viacom today jointly announced the resolution of the Viacom vs. YouTube copyright litigation," the companies said in a joint statement. "This settlement reflects the growing collaborative dialogue between our two companies on important opportunities, and we look forward to working more closely together."

Viacom, in a $1 billion lawsuit, had claimed YouTube allowed users to post copyrighted content without permission between 2005 and 2008, including from Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and "South Park."

The case centered on YouTube's practices mostly before 2008, when video sharing online was still in its relatively early stages. Viacom has said it wanted to establish a precedent with the lawsuit.

Last April, a federal judge in Manhattan threw out the case for a second time, saying the burden of identifying the specific content that had be removed from YouTube fell on Viacom. At the time, Viacom said it intended to appeal the ruling.

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