• CNET News Blog, Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11 AM

Publicity stunt or legal strategy? Google wants comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to give a deposition in the search giant's fight against their employer Viacom, which is suing Google video provider YouTube for $1 billion in copyright damages. Stewart, host of "The Daily Show," and Colbert, host of "The Colbert Report," are two of Viacom unit Comedy Central's most high-profile personalities; their shows have been illegally uploaded to YouTube thousands if not millions of times.

There's no guarantee that Stewart and Colbert will be questioned, as Viacom could argue that the pair is immaterial to the case. ACorporations often go back and forth about the executives they want to depose, though Google is likely to argue that Colbert and Stewart have both made public comments about YouTube, and are therefore relevant. Colbert, for example, has urged his fans to upload videos of his show. "If Viacom used the clips for marketing or promotional purposes, Google could argue that Colbert needs to be deposed," one lawyer said.

In addition to Stewart and Colbert, Google wishes to depose Viacom bigwigs Sumner Redstone, chairman and Philippe Dauman, CEO. Viacom said it wants to question YouTube's young founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

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