RSSYouTube Sued $800 Million By Italian Premier’s Company
By Daya Baran at July 30, 2008 0 Comments
Google’s YouTube has been sued by Mediaset SpA, the television company controlled by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Mediaset is seeking 500 million Euros in “immediate damages” or approximately US$800 million. Lost advertising revenue linked to the videos may add to the amount of compensation said Mediaset.
According to the lawsuit Google and YouTube allegedly carried out the “illegal distribution and commercial use of audio and video files” owned by Mediaset. A sample analysis run by Mediaset on June 10, at least 4,643 videos belonging to the company were found on YouTube. That equals more than 325 hours of broadcasting without corresponding rights, the company said. Mediaset claims that, based on the number of its clips available on YouTube and the hits generated, the broadcaster lost the equivalent of 315,672 broadcasting days.
Gestevision Telecinco SA, a Mediaset unit that owns Spain’s most-watched TV station, sued YouTube last month for copyright infringement and illegally posting its video content on the Web.
