# Viacom suit against Google/YouTube - does it have any merit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2007, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viacom-suit-against-google-youtube-does-it-have-any-merit/402269 "2007-05-01T05:31:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viacom-suit-against-google-youtube-does-it-have-any-merit/402269/1 "2007-05-01T05:31:03Z")
[Link](http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070430/google_viacom.html?.v=2) I don’t figure this. I thought the Safe Harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright act gave companies absolute protection against suits like this. I’m sure Google comply when asked to take down material, as is their obligation, so where’s the merit in this suit? And yet Viacom sure as hell have some pretty smart lawyers working for them, so am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viacom-suit-against-google-youtube-does-it-have-any-merit/402269/2 "2007-05-01T11:42:18Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] [Link](http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070430/google_viacom.html?.v=2) I don’t figure this. I thought the Safe Harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright act gave companies absolute protection against suits like this. I’m sure Google comply when asked to take down material, as is their obligation, so where’s the merit in this suit? And yet Viacom sure as hell have some pretty smart lawyers working for them, so am I missing something? [/QUOTE] Presumably, Viacom is working to analogize to the Napster situation. Without having seen the pleadings, it’s difficult to say for certain.