Viacom's Hypocrisy Could Defuse YouTube Lawsuit

Anyone checked out iFilm lately? Ars Technica did, and found several videos that were guilty of copyright infringement. Were any Viacom videos part of that roundup? Nope, because Viacom owns iFilm. Wait, what's that you say? Viacom couldn't possibly own a company that violates others' copyrights because right now they're suing YouTube for a billion dollars for doing just that?

Ars followed up to ask if they take the same active measures to identify copyright-molesting content that they're asking YouTube to follow, but naturally didn't get a response from either iFilm or Viacom. They also talked to a copyright attorney, who said that because Viacom's essentially asking for a "new interpretation of the DMCA" in its lawsuit (YouTube follows the current interpretation), and there's no precedent for a judge to follow, "Viacom's own conduct with iFilm will likely be a factor that the judge looks at."

What's that delicious taste I suddenly I have in my mouth? Oh wait, I think I know what it is—sweet, sweet irony.

Infringing videos on iFilm could cause problems for Viacom [Ars Technica]
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