Nearly three years after Viacom (VIA) first sued Google (GOOG) over copyright infringement, the case may finally be ready to start moving again. Both sides have asked a federal court for summary judgment, which means there’s an opportunity for the legal system to actually make a decision in what could be a landmark case.
Both sides filed the requests, which have been expected for sometime, at the end of last month. Which means that years of laborious discovery and depositions have come to a close.
There’s not much to the filings themselves:
- Google’s document reiterates its initial argument. The search giant says that it doesn’t knowingly store or play copyrighted clips on the site, and if it does, it’s protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It also cites last fall’s ruling in the Veoh/Universal Music Group case, in which a court ruled in favor of the video sharing site.
- Viacom’s document reiterates its initial argument, which is that Google and YouTube knew what they were doing and profited from it, which means the DMCA doesn’t protect them . And perhaps it says something more interesting. Hard to tell, since US District Court judge Louis Stanton has redacted more than a page of the document, as you can see here:
Wonder what that says? Me too.
Viacom filing:
Via 1710
Google filing:
Goog1710
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