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YOUTUBE'S LEGAL TEAM IS COURTING COMEDIANS
By JANET WHITMAN
August 15, 2007 -- In a bid to fight Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement suit, YouTube wants to quiz comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The pair, who host TV shows on Viacom's Comedy Central cable channel, popped up on a list of 32 people in a recent court filing that YouTube is seeking to interview as possible witnesses in the legal spat. YouTube may be hoping the two will admit their shows - "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" - exploded in popularity after viewers started posting them on its video-sharing Web site. Stewart and Colbert, both apparent fans of YouTube, have cracked jokes about the lawsuit. YouTube also put Viacom boss Sumner Redstone and CEO Philippe Dauman on its deposition list. Viacom ordered the wildly popular clips pulled in February, then filed the suit a month later in U.S. district court in New York after failing to reach a content pact with YouTube. The media giant argues that YouTube - acquired last year by Google for $1.65 billion - has profited by pirating portions of its TV shows and movies. Before they were yanked, clips from "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" were among the most watched on YouTube. The video-sharing site has argued it's protected from liability because it takes down copyrighted material a soon as owners inform the company of illegal postings. Meanwhile, Viacom, which owns MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures, is seeking to interview YouTube creators Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, as well as Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and its CEO Eric Schmidt. 
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