[From SouthCoastToday.com]

NEW YORK (AP) — A $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit challenging YouTube’s ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the Internet, YouTube owner Google Inc. said.

Google’s lawyers made the claim in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as the company responded to Viacom Inc.’s latest lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to “an explosion of copyright infringement” by YouTube and others.

The back-and-forth between the companies has intensified since Viacom brought its lawsuit last year, saying it was owed damages for the unauthorized viewing of its programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

In papers submitted to a judge late Friday, Google said YouTube “goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works.”

It said that by seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Viacom “threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression.”

[Continue Reading Here]

[From AssociatedPress.com]

NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast Corp., which is under federal investigation for blocking some file-sharing traffic, is investing in a startup that delivers high-definition video using file-sharing techniques.

Seattle-based GridNetworks on Monday said that Comcast would make an unspecified investment in the company and collaborate on developing so-called peer-to-peer file-sharing techniques that are “friendly” to Internet service providers.

Comcast, the country’s second largest Internet service provider, hampers some file-sharing traffic by its subscribers in an attempt to keep the traffic from slowing down Web surfing by other subscribers. Complaints by consumer groups and legal scholars that the company is discriminating against particular software have led to an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission.

Comcast has said that it will stop targeting specific types of traffic by the end of the year. It has also reached out to file-sharing companies to try to develop mutually acceptable techniques.

Tony Werner, Comcast’s chief technology officer, said Monday that Comcast is “working hard” with technology companies and the Internet Engineering Task Force to improve the efficiency of peer-to-peer file sharing.

File-sharing applications like BitTorrent are frequently used to spread pirated movies and music. But GridNetworks and a dozen other startups are instead developing the technology as a way to deliver legal files, like rented high-definition movies, cheaply over the Internet.

In October, GridNetworks raised $9.5 million in capital, with Cisco Systems Inc. as one of the investors.

The Comcast deal was announced at the Cable Show in New Orleans, hosted by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.

[ From AssociatedPress.com]

NEW YORK (AP) — Media and entertainment company CBS Corp. is buying CNet Networks Inc., an online news and information provider, for $1.8 billion in cash in its latest bid to expand its reach on the Internet, the companies announced Thursday.

The price of $11.50 per share for CNet represents a massive premium of 45 percent over CNet’s closing stock price on Wednesday, and appears to get CNet out of a nasty battle with one of its largest shareholders, which had been agitating for a shakeup at the company after its stock slumped.

CNet shares soared nearly 44 percent in morning trading.

Despite the high premium CBS is paying for CNet, CBS’s chief financial officer Fred Reynolds called the price “fair” said the acquisition would immediately add to CBS’s earnings. CBS will fund the acquisition with cash on hand.

CNet is an early pioneer in the Internet, and now includes a large stable of businesses in the entertainment, news and music areas such as ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com.

Continue reading story at www.associatedpress.com