Viacom, which owns the cable networks MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and the Paramount Pictures movie studio, asked YouTube to remove more than 100,000 unauthorized clips from its hugely popular video-sharing site, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report quoted a Viacom statement as saying that after several months of talks with YouTube and its corporate parent, the online search leader Google, 'it has become clear that YouTube is unwilling to come to a fair market agreement that would make Viacom content available to YouTube users.'
Viacom said that YouTube and Google had failed to deliver on several 'filtering tools' to control unauthorized video from appearing on the hugely popular site, the report said.
The company was now asking YouTube to take the clips down, but stopped short of filing a lawsuit, the report added.
Under federal copyright law, online services such as YouTube are generally immune from liability as long as it responds to takedown requests such as these, which YouTube often does, the report said.
Less clear legally is what happens when another user posts the same video, something commonly done on the free video-sharing site.