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- The Guardian
- Wednesday August 15 2007
Google is looking to defend itself in a $1bn court battle by calling American TV stars Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as witnesses, it has emerged.
According to documents filed in a New York district court, Stewart - host of the popular satirical news programme The Daily Show - and his colleague Colbert are on a list of witnesses for deposition in the case brought by their employer, Viacom.
The billion-dollar lawsuit, filed last year by the company which owns MTV and Comedy Central, accuses Google's videosharing website, YouTube, of encouraging users to pirate copyrighted material. It is the first major action brought against the site since it was bought by Google in 2005 for $1.65bn.
It is thought that Google's lawyers are keen to interview Stewart and Colbert because they have both been supporters of YouTube in the past, becoming cult fixtures and appearing in some of the most popular videos. Colbert has even asked viewers to help spread the word of his show, a parody of rightwing talkshows, by uploading viral videos taken from TV. The pair appear on a list of 30 names issued by Google for depositions, including Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone. In response, Viacom has requested depositions from Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin - as well as chief executive Eric Schmidt, plus YouTube creators Chad Hurley and Steven Chen.
The two companies are likely to squabble over the witness list before it is finalised and the case goes to trial, unlikely before the end of 2008. One legal expert likened the deposition process to "a fishing expedition".
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