• Associated Press, Friday, March 23, 2007 11 AM

Activist groups are hitting back at Viacom in its $1 billion lawsuit against Google's YouTube, according to an AP report. MoveOn.org and Brave Films LLC on Thursday sued Viacom for improperly asking that YouTube remove a parody containing clips from the network's popular show, "The Colbert Report."

The activist groups argued that their usage of the "Colbert" clips was protected under "fair use" provisions of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act and that Viacom's removal request amounted to a "misrepresentation" subject to legal damages. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, and comes about a week after Viacom announced its legal battle against Google. Neither YouTube nor the search giant were named in the MoveOn.org/Brave Films suit.

Viacom replied that the lawsuit was a waste of judicial resources and that the plaintiffs should have checked with the company first. The media giant claims it has no record of sending such a complaint to YouTube, despite the online video giant's identifying Viacom as the source. It could be that YouTube is identifying Viacom as per its request that all of its materials be removed from the online video site. Upon reviewing the clip, Michael D. Fricklas, general counsel for Viacom, said "I can inform you that Viacom has no problem with your client's continued use of it on its website or on YouTube." Despite his assertion, the plaintiffs' say they're going ahead with the suit.

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