• BBC News, Monday, October 30, 2006 11:45 AM

Late last week, Google preceded its decision to remove Viacom's material from new acquisition YouTube with tough talk over its policy for copyrights. Nikesh Arora, vice president of Google Europe, told reporters the search giant would not tolerate copyright violations.

Of course, the video-sharing site owes much of its rapid growth to the existence of thousands of clips uploaded from old TV shows by its users. However, most believe YouTube was able to escape copyright lawsuits because it is a new business with little cash. Little cash--but a lot of potential, and Google's task is now to convince copyright owners that it's in their best interest to partner with the viral video site. YouTube's massive, loyal user base is a major reason--although some content owners, perhaps Viacom, may decide to go it alone.

To deal with the copyright problem, YouTube is devising technology that will allow it to block copyrighted videos from being uploaded. Its policy to date is to take down copyrighted material as it is flagged by the owners, but YouTube has been criticized for not being diligent enough.

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