Negotiation through litigation?

In the midst of talks between Viacom and Google to work out how revenue should be shared from YouTube content, Viacom upped the ante by slapping the Silicon Valley icon with a $1 billion lawsuit for "massive intentional copyright infringement." Google reps say they are confident with their position and have strong legal protection under current copyright law. Specifically, they cited protections offered by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. Meanwhile, Gregory Rutchik, founding attorney of the Arts & Technology law group told InformationWeek: "I think Viacom has an uphill battle to argue that YouTube, as a broadcast model, is really a media company and not a service," he said.

This isn't YouTube's first flirtation with jurisprudence. In 2006 the company was sued by Los Angeles News Service operator Robert Tur for allowing YouTube users to watch footage of trucker Reginald Denny being beaten during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.  

For more on this:
- check out this article from InformationWeek