MoveOn sues Viacom
Removal of parody video prompts suit
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The liberal advocacy group, along with its partner Brave New Films, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Viacom alleging that the media giant unjustly demanded that YouTube take down a parody video that used clips from "The Colbert Report."
Parodies are largely protected against copyright infringement claims.
A notice on YouTube.com Thursday morning said the video, called "Stop the Falsiness," had been taken down due to a request by Viacom. But by the afternoon, it was back up.
In a letter sent to the plaintiff's attorneys, including cyber-liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation and Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig, Viacom said it had no record of requesting the takedown and that the notice "most likely did not come from us."
Conglom's general counsel added that, after seeing a copy of the video on another site, "I can inform you that Viacom has no problem with your client's continued use of (the video) on its own Web site or on YouTube."
But EFF attorney Fred Von Lohman said the plaintiffs will continue to seek damages.
"If Fox News got 'The Daily Show' yanked one night because it used a Fox News clip and then the next day said 'oops, that was a mistake,' I don't think they'd be OK with that," he told Daily Variety.
