YouTube or YouLose? Can YouTube Survive a Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Jason Breen A. Introduction “As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow.” This self-glorying quote may have seemed far fetched less than a year ago, but of late, YouTube has been discussed as a potential “sixth network,” rivaling traditional distributors of video content that have had a stranglehold over audiences for decades. In some instances, it has even been shown that YouTube has already eclipsed television as the preferred arena for audiences. Connie Chung’s “Thanks for the Memories” episode was seen by twice as many viewers on YouTube after its initial broadcast. This is potentially a frightening scenario for both content creators and traditional content distributors, as their markets for both selling and providing exclusive avenues for consumption may be deteriorating. It is fairly predictable that YouTube has already been the center of much attention for possible lawsuits. These discussions intensified after Google’s acquisition of the company for stock valued at $1.65 billion in October of 2006. This resolved one of the major issues that confronted content providers: was a company like YouTube worth suing? Without the deep pockets provided by a company like Google, copyright holders would not have had the proper incentives to either sue the users of YouTube or the hosting service. Damages would have been limited and possible injunctions against individual users posting clips would be costly with little benefit. This is primarily due to the nature of a posting service like YouTube, which was aptly