March 29th, 2007
Google needs more time to respond to Viacom suit
Google has requested a 30-day extension to respond to the Viacom lawsuit against YouTube.
The letter, reported by GoogleWatch, was dated March 23 by Donald Verrilli Jr., a Viacom lawyer. In part, he wrote:
"I am writing to confirm that the parties are available to appear before the Court on Friday, July 27, 2007 at 11:30am. In addition, because the Defendants have not yet retained counsel to represent them in this matter. Plaintiffs have agreed to Defendants' request for a thirty-day extension of time — i.e. until May 2. 2007 — for the Defendants to answer or otherwise respond to Plaintiffs' complaint."
What's interesting about the extension is that Google–a company with an army of lawyers–hasn't responded or even retained counsel. My read: Google is hoping to settle with Viacom before things get too messy. Or perhaps Google isn't taking the lawsuit against YouTube seriously.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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