Viacom vs. Google's YouTube: Fuggedaboutit?
Just days before Google announced its acquisition of YouTube, Om Malik famously put forth his pronouncement on the likelihood of such a merger happening: “YouTube, Google …fuggedaboutit.”
Nevertheless, YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen were soon dancing in their own broadcast-yourself clip-culture video, giddily celebrating the $1.65 billion GOOG marriage of “two Internet kings,” as top YouTube spokesperson Hurley fondly proclaimed.
Days later, did Malik eat his words? In his own way. Malik’s original assessment: “At this point, we are going to wait for the fat lady to sing. Anyway the deal has as much chance of happening as me dropping 40 pounds.” The fat lady did sing, the deal happened, $1.65 billion worth. Malik 40 pounds worth as well?
Diet or not, Malik misses the Google YouTube mark once again, $1 billion mark this time. Malik, succinctly on the $1 billion Viacom copyright infringement lawsuit: “kooky” action, Viacom is “incompetent.”
Perhaps Malik should not “fuggedaboutit,” his original Google YouTube post that is. While he today appears to put the responsibility for policing YouTube uploads of copyright infringing materials on copyright content owners, saying Viacom “could have done something about this a long time ago, but didn’t and basically are using this lawsuit to paper over their own incompetence,” he in fact warned Google of such lawsuits before the official announcement of the Google YouTube deal!:
Google folks have to be aware of the fact that the minute they buy YouTube, they are going to have to deal with lawsuits by truckloads, which could cost them money, but more importantly distract them from their core business.
Malik may be spurring Google agita! Google’s AdSense is delivering to GigaOm “feel good” tips on “How to lower high blood pressure,” and “Better than angioplasty” and “Banish hypertension.”
The Google AdSense handy, healthy advice frames GigaOm commenters taking issue with Malik's position.
Malik asks “So why sue now?” and answers “My guess is that they have been reading Google’s SEC filings and trying to figure out how to get some of those billions sitting in the bank!”
Isn’t that the American way, the American capitalist way! SEEWhy Google will never pay for content.
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