Information unsealed in federal court today could fluster Viacom and almost certainly will embarrass YouTube by providing some salacious details into how the two entities work. Federal Judge Louis Stanton, who's presiding over a three-year-old legal action started by Viacom against YouTube, will release evidence that Viacom and YouTube have collected but kept to themselves during the copyright fight.
The information, which YouTube lawyers have fought to keep closeted, should include details about the early strategies of YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen and how they dealt with copyright complaints. It could also show whether others in the media tried to buy YouTube before the ubiquitous Google got there with a $1.76 billion offer in 2006.
Viacom filed a $1 billion copyright suit against YouTube claiming that YouTube's employees knew copyrighted material was being posted but looked the other way.
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