I was discussing the Viacom/YouTube $1 billion legal action with Gilles Babinet this morning. Do you remember Napster? According to Gilles, Napster’s valuation was close to $4 billion at some point. You know the story. They got sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), agreed to pay a settlement of $24 million for past unauthorized uses of music, tried to convert their free model to a subscription one, and filed for chapter 11, then for chapter 7. Full story on wikipedia. or here
Will YouTube follow a similar path? Will you read when you access their website “YouTube was here?” What do you think?
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