• Gavin O'Malley, Mar 19, 2010, 1:04 PM
  • Theories Abound About Why Viacom Went After YouTube The Hollywood Reporter et al. The long-running court battle between Viacom and Google is heating up again now that Viacom has released its summary judgment motion, arguing why Google-owned YouTube deserves to be hung and quartered for hosting user-uploaded videos that infringe copyrights.

    "YouTube has proclaimed a 'safe harbor' from liability under USC 512(c) thanks to efforts to respond dutifully to takedown requests," writes The Hollywood Reporter. "But Viacom goes out of its way to present the case that YouTube was founded upon and continues to exist as the result of intentional copyright abuse."

    Indeed, "Viacom ... cites internal YouTube memos and emails to argue that YouTube actively encouraged the distribution of infringing content, disqualifying it from immunity under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act," notes The Wall Street Journal. "The 1998 law shields Internet-service providers, Web-hosting companies and other online entities from liability if they meet certain conditions, such as removing content at the request of the copyright holder."

    Emails between YouTube's three founders -- Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim -- " at least as presented by Viacom, don't make it sound like YouTube's founders and employees were necessarily worried about depriving content owners of videos they may have rightfully uploaded," writes TechCrunch. "Sometimes, it sounds like they're pretty sure that they weren't authorized, and were just relying on the fact that they didn't have to do anything until they received a takedown notice."

    Going way out on a limb, NewTeeVee speculates that, "Maybe the reason Viacom has gone after YouTube so litigiously is because YouTube is 'the one that got away' -- and anyone who's ever had an unrequited crush knows how much it hurts to see something special slip through one's fingers."

    Yet, in a new blog post, YouTube Chief Counsel Zahavah Levine does take issue with some of Viacom's accusations towards YouTube, given that Viacom made repeated attempts to acquire YouTube before the Google deal happened, according to NewTeeVee.

    Either way, as The Guardian notes, "Experts say [the case's outcome] could redefine the relationship between media and internet companies."

    Read the whole story...
  • Data: Games Will Rule iPad Business Week Sure, the iPad will let you read Updike and watch Cassavetes, but games are going to dominate the device if developers have their way. Indeed, a clear majority of applications being created for the tablet PC are game-related, according to new data from app measurement firm Flurry.

    In all, games make up 44% of all apps being tested on the iPad. Entertainment, which Apple generally defines as videos and "novelties" like lava lamp apps -- takes a distant second with 14% of the pie. Meanwhile, social networking programs made up 7% of the total, followed by sports, travel, lifestyle, and utilities. BusinessWeek's Tech Beat blog features Flurry's pie chart in all its color-coded glory. The data, as Tech Beat notes, is not a comprehensive look at every app that will be available for the iPad. Read the whole story...
  • Envisioning A Google-less China Washington Post The Washington Post examines the cultural implications of Google pulling out of China. While many citizens tell the paper they support the search giant's decision to challenge the Chinese government on the issue of censorship, "they also said its departure would make them feel even more marginalized to the borders of Chinese society, stuck between a state committed to controlling information and a freer outside world." Still, it does "appear certain" that Google is following through with its threat to close at least its Google.cn search engine, reports WaPo.

    It cites The Chinese Business News newspaper, which on Friday quoted an unidentified business agent close to Google as saying the firm would cease some operations in April. Of particular note, WaPo addes that Google's departure would mark the first time that a major corporation has left China since Levi Strauss jeans, which reported left in '93 over human rights issues. For better or worse, Levi Strauss returned in 2008. Read the whole story...
  • Research: Twitter Followers Don't Equal Influence Read Write Web Sorry, Ashton. New research indicates that there's little correlation between one's follower count on Twitter and cultural influence. Researchers examined the Twitter accounts of over 54 million active users, out of some 80 million accounts crawled by their servers. They then measured various statistics about these accounts, including audience size, "retweet" influence and mention influence. And? Those with the largest number of followers may be "popular" Twitterers, but that's not necessarily related to their influence.

    In other words, "High follower counts don't always mean someone is being retweeted or mentioned in any meaningful ways," writes ReadWriteWeb. The researchers also examined the ability of Twitter users to influence others, and determined that the most influential users hold significant influence over a variety of topics, as opposed to being experts in just one area. Read the whole story...
  • Report: Publishers Balking At iPad Partnerships Wall Street Journal In advance of the iPad's April debut, Apple is racing to secure partnership with various media and content companies, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. And, if these sources are correct, "hundreds of thousands" of iPads have been pre-ordered in less than a week. Still, despite its likely popularity, "lining up TV programming, digital newspapers and other content ahead of the iPad's April 3 release has proven difficult for Apple as some potential collaborators weigh the advantages of working with the company against the potential threats to their current sources of revenue."

    As a result, Apple is still negotiating with media companies for a price cut on TV shows that people can download onto the device. Apple, which also hoped to work closely with newspaper, magazines and textbook publishers on new ways to digitally present print content on the iPad, has for now put the effort on backburner, sources tell the Journal. Read the whole story...
  • Hitwise: Facebookers Make Loyal Readers Hitwise Visitors from Facebook are more loyal to news and media Web sites than are visitors from Google News, according to new data from Hitwise. In particular, among the top 5 print media Web sites in the week ending March 6, 78% of Facebook users were returning visitors compared to 67% from Google News. The figures are almost identical for Broadcast Media, with a 77% returning rate for Facebook compared to 64% for Google News.

    Either way, "This reinforces the long term value to news and media organisations [sic] of working with the likes of Google News and Facebook," writes Hitwise senior analyst Heather Hopkins. "With recent Pew Research showing that newspapers have seen ad revenue fall 26% during the year and 43% over the past three years, understanding where to find loyal readers is becoming increasingly important." Read the whole story...