YouTube Sued Over Soccer Footage

May 06, 06:37 PM

Current Headlines: The Premier soccer League in Britain is suing Youtube.com in New York for allegedly using unauthorized footage from their soccer games to attract viewers.

The league is claiming unspecified damages and accused Youtube Inc. and Google, the owner of Youtube, of exploiting material that it does not own, The Independent reported.

The Premier League also alleged that Youtube.com deliberately used the copyrighted footage to draw people to the Web site.

Google warns that a case like this could set a precedent about how the internet is run and said the lawsuit is an attack on the freedom to communicate over the web and artistic expression.

Youtube, which was purchased by Google in 2006 for more than $1.5 billion, started in 2005 and quickly became known for amateur videos of pets and people doing unique and crazy things.