Daily Show host YouTube's key witness
Updated on 15 August 2007
Jon Stewart and former side-kick, Stephen Colbert get starring roles in $1bn Viacom-YouTube lawsuit.
Viacom's $1bn lawsuit against YouTube - over the use the use of copyrighted material on the video sharing site - took a comic turn this week when it emerged that comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had been called to give testimony.
Stewart and Colbert present two of the most viewed shows on YouTube - 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report'.
According to documents filed in a New York district court, the two were listed as numbers three and four of the 32 people called by YouTube. Viacom's CEO Philippe Dauman tops the lists.
Heading Viacom's own list are Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt. Google bought YouTube for $1.65bn in October 2007.
Viacom sued Google and YouTube in March. Viacom said YouTube carried clips from its programmes without permission - and its Comedy Central shows were among the most viewed.
YouTube inisists that it is following existing internet laws by removing any copyrighted material in a timely manner.
