Viacom’s Unusual Legal Tack Against YouTube -- And Why It Just Might Work

There’s a curious thing about Viacom’s recently appealed copyright case against YouTube. Viacom’s evidence and allegations focus on the YouTube of 2005 to 2007, not the YouTube of 2010.

Why does this matter? Because it suggests that, for all the bad blood between the two companies, Viacom doesn't actually object to how YouTube currently filters content and deals with copyright -- or, if Viacom does have a problem with present-day YouTube, it thinks that case would be too hard to win. What Viacom does have, however, after years of paying lawyers to dig for dirt, is a very unflattering portrait of the young YouTube. And here’s why that might still be enough to win.