The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has joined the ranks of companies taking issue with YouTube. Variety reports that the Academy demanded the purge of all Oscar-related clips, including the opening monologue by host Ellen DeGeneres and Will Ferrell's musical act -- which were among YouTube's most viewed clips. (Variety reports that the clips had been deleted, but they appeared to have resurfaced on YouTube as of Wedneday morning.)

AOL is in talks to buy mobile ad company Third Screen Media for as much as $80 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. News of the talks comes several months after discussions between Third Screen and Microsoft failed, according to published reports.

Google is gearing up to expand a test of its video syndication, adding Dow Jones and Condé Nast to its roster of publishers, according to a report in today's New York Times.

A federal appellate court is getting ready to decide whether Google's method of selling paid search ads violates trademark law. Specifically, the computer repair company Rescuecom charges that its trademark is violated when business rivals use its name to trigger paid search ads.

Microsoft apparently is gearing up to enter the video-sharing space in a much bigger way. The company, which is testing the video site "Soapbox," also apparently recently mulled purchasing Revver, according to a report in CNET's News.com.

When Google announced last October it was purchasing YouTube, it appeared as if the companies were fast on their way to forging alliances with major TV and record companies. But Google and at least some TV companies appear to have reached an impasse.

State attorneys general in 23 states are griping that Anheuser-Busch's new broadband channel, Bud.tv, is too accessible to minors.

Former New York State Attorney General (and now Governor) Eliot Spitzer wasn't the only government official gunning for adware purveyor Direct Revenue. It turns out that the federal government also had some issues with the pop-up serving company, which allegedly installed its ad-serving software on people's computers without their informed consent.

The civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation appears to be mulling some sort of legal action against Viacom stemming from its recent demand that YouTube remove 100,000 clips -- including clips with no connection to Viacom -- from the site.

MySpace this week scored its first major victory in a civil lawsuit, when a federal judge in Texas tossed a case brought by the family of a teen, "Julie Doe," who alleged she was sexually abused by someone she met on the site.