Viacom sued YouTube for $1 billion three years ago based on claims of copyright infringement for unauthorized posting of Viacom copyrighted material. This controversial and complex case is still showing its effect as until recently, many documents in the litigation were sealed and not available to the public. When the documents were released, Zavanah Levine, YouTube's chief legal counsel, made a surprising blog post as well, wherein he stated that Viacom- a media conglomerate in the United States that owns such networks as MTV and Comedy Central, continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube. This is not all, it had also hired 18 marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It also sent employees to Kinko's to upload clips from computers that couldn't be traced to Viacom.
In order to promote its own shows, Viacom routinely left up clips from shows that had been uploaded to YouTube by ordinary users. Viacom's efforts to disguise its promotional use of YouTube worked so well that even its own employees couldn't make out and keep track of everything it was posting or leaving up on the site. Viacom now states that it does not take issue with how YouTube has operated since May 2008. YouTube had integrated a Content ID system into its site in May 2008, which permitted copyright owners to assert ownership over their own content. With the effect, the copyright owner can let YouTube know whether it wants the content blocked or monetized





