Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart on Youtube Witness List

Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart on YouTube Witness List

August 14, 2007

By Susan Decker - Published by Bloomberg News

Comedians Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart owe much of their popularity to the YouTube video-sharing site. YouTube is hoping they'll pay their debt.

Colbert, host of the "Colbert Report," and Stewart, satiric anchor of the fake news show "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," will be questioned by YouTube attorneys as part of a Viacom Inc. copyright lawsuit against the site.

Colbert and Stewart, whose shows air on Viacom's Comedy Central channel, are among 32 potential witnesses listed by

YouTube, a unit of Google Inc., in federal court in New York.

"YouTube is perhaps one of the best marketing conduits for folks like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert," said Mitch Weinstein, an intellectual-property lawyer at Levenfeld Pearlstein in Chicago. "These guys are going to stand up there and say YouTube is great. And they're going to say it while they're on the

If the men become witnesses at a trial, YouTube may try to use them to deflect claims of copyright-infringement or limit potential damages, Weinstein said.

Carrie Byalick, a spokeswoman for Colbert, didn't immediately reply to a message seeking comment. Nor did Matt Labov, a spokesman for Stewart.

Viacom, based in New York, is seeking more than $1 billion for what it contends is rampant posting of unauthorized videos on the site.

Viacom Claim

"Google and YouTube have knowingly and intentionally created and operated their YouTube Web site to promote and profit from massive copyright infringement of television programs and feature films on an unprecedented scale." Viacom said in court papers.

YouTube, bought by Mountain View, California-based Google last year for $1.65 billion, claims its actions are protected under a federal copyright law because it is only a service provider and takes steps when notified to remove illegal postings.

© 2021 LEVENFELD PEARLSTEIN | www.lplegal.com Lawsuits against the Google unit "threaten to silence communications by hundreds of millions of people across the globe who exchange information, news and entertainment through YouTube's video hosting service," the document states.

Other people YouTube plans to question include Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, President Philippe Dauman and Bob Bakish, president of Viacom's MTV Networks International. Most of Viacom's witness list consists of Google and YouTube officials, including Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and its chief executive, Eric Schmidt.

Suit in England

YouTube was also sued by England's Football Association Premier League Ltd., which made similar allegations. YouTube plans to question the soccer league's chief executive officer, Richard Scudamore and its chairman Dave Richards, according to a court document filed in that case.

The Belgian Professional Football League, which has also threatened to sue YouTube, said today it would defer any decision until September after Google offered a technology that will allow the group to monitor where its matches are broadcast.

© 2021 LEVENFELD PEARLSTEIN | www.lplegal.com The cases are Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube Inc., 07cv2103 and Football Association Premier League Ltd. v. YouTube Inc., 07cv3582, both U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

--With reporting by Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles