YouTube Asks for Stewart, Colbert To Take Stand
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
YouTube wants to question comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as part of its defense against claims that it illegally airs Internet snippets of sports and entertainment videos.
The request, which surfaced yesterday in court documents, was made last week to the judge presiding over lawsuits brought against YouTube by Viacom International Inc., England’s top soccer league — the Football Association Premier League Ltd. — and indie music publisher Bourne Co.
The lawsuits claim, in essence, that YouTube profits from copyright infringement of television programs and feature films. The documents seeking the depositions pertained only to the Viacom lawsuit.
YouTube says it needs depositions from more than 30 people to fight legal challenges that “threaten to silence communications by hundreds of millions of people across the globe who exchange information, news and entertainment” through its product.
YouTube, owned by Google Inc., said it plans to show that it respects the importance of intellectual property rights by proving it goes well beyond what is required under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
