Viacom, one of the world’s biggest media company, owner of MTV, Paramount Pictures, BET, Comedy Central and others, is ambitiously expanding its online video presence. Like this new effort with Yahoo!
Fortune magazine just published a story "Viacom’s Plan to Be Cool Again."
If Viacom is cool, it’s also tough when it comes to protecting its intellectual property. It has taken YouTube to task in a $1 billion lawsuit filed earlier this year.
Earlier today, I interviewed Viacom’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel Michael Fricklas about copyright, technology and how he defines "fair use." He tells Beet.TV that while some mash-ups and parodies are fine, unauthorized copying and publicly sharing is not.
Fricklas will be a keynote speaker on Monday at The Deal’s "Convergence" conference in Manhattan. Beet.TV will have coverage of the event including Edgar Bronfman, Jr.
Grab the embed of this video interview. It’s fair use!
— Andy Plesser
Update 9/17: Here’s summary of Fricklas’ speech today in PaidContent.
Disclosure: The Deal is a client of Plesser Holland public relations, the firm I head up with my good buddy Kent Holland.
