Now that YouTube will soon become part of the Google empire, they will have to face the bitter music of YouTube's high level of copyrighted content being hosted on the site. Doubtless, many companies will come to Google and complain. On the other hand, many companies are also looking to partner with the video site. AOL/Time Warner is a group that is trying to play both sides. In a recent statement, they announced that they will be going after Google due to copyright violations. In nearly the same breath, however, they also announced their intention to partner with the company:
"You can assume we're in negotiations with YouTube and that those negotiations will be kicked up to the Google level in the hope that we can get to some acceptable position," Parsons told the paper, adding that "if you let one thing ignore your rights as an owner it makes it much more difficult to defend those rights when the next guy comes along."
Talk about having your cake and eating it too. Assuming Time Warner actually wants to use YouTube, the copyright complaints are probably just a strongarm move to force Google's hand.