Viacom Demands YouTube Pull 400,000 Ex-TV Viewers From Its Site
NEW YORK—In a cease-and-desist letter sent to Google's attorneys last week, media conglomerate Viacom demanded that YouTube immediately pull 400,000 ex-TV viewers from its industry-leading video-sharing site.
"These viewers clearly belong to Viacom and its related entertainment subsidiaries," stated the letter, which called the co-opted viewership "the result of an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars by our company." "Should YouTube fail to adequately address this blatant infringement, Viacom will not hesitate to assert its ownership rights to its intellectual property."
The letter threatened further legal action if all the 400,000 viewers in question are not removed from their desks and returned to their couches by the end of the week. 
Viacom lawsuit seeks $1bn in damages from YouTube
By Joshua Chaffin in New York and Richard Waters in San Francisco
Published: March 14 2007 The Financial Times Limited 2007
Viacom has launched the first legal challenge against YouTube, suing the Google-owned internet video site for "massive intentional copyright infringement" and asking a federal court for more than $1bn (£518m) in damages.
In its suit, Viacom claimed that more than 160,000 of its clips, from programmes such as The Daily Show with John Stewart and SpongeBob SquarePants, had been published on YouTube without permission and accused the company of a "brazen disregard" for copyright law.
The legal action represents the sharpest clash between traditional media companies and internet start-ups, which have attracted audiences by allowing users to post music and video clips on their sites.
Viacom, which owns MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other youth-oriented brands, has argued that YouTube, which Google acquired for $1.65bn in October, has used its copyrighted material without permission to build a massive audience.
Last month it demanded You-Tube remove more than 100,000 of its video clips after the companies failed to reach an agreement on licensing. Negotiations foundered over financial terms and questions about who would control advertising relationships.
