8/14/2007

in

Google asks Comedy Central hosts to depose on lawsuit

Natalia Galbetti

It started as a law suit between heavy hitters and now television celebrities are getting involved.  
  
John Stewart and fellow Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert have been called to depose by Google in the $1 billion lawsuit Viacom has against the company. Viacom Inc., which owns in addition to Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, CMT and Nickelodeon among others, sued Google in March claiming that the website YouTube, owned by Google, has knowingly infringed copyright laws by allowing clips and movies from "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" to be shared and viewed for free.  
  
Google still hasn't announced in detail what the depositions from Stewart and Colbert will add to their defense of the case which threatens to silence communications by hundreds of millions of people across the globe who exchange information, news and entertainment" via the Internet.  
  
Viacom Inc. has asked Google founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and the minds behind YouTube, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, to depose.  
  
Due to standard judicial system rules, 3rd party depositions aren't scheduled to start until November 7, and Viacom and Google employees and executives will have to wait until March 7, 2008.  
  
Which means that Stewart and Colbert might not have to go to court until 2009.