Comedians Colbert, Stewart, called to testify in YouTube lawsuit

YouTube wants to question television show hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as part of its defence against claims the online video-sharing site illegally shows snippets of sports and entertainment videos.

The request came as part of lawsuits brought against YouTube by Viacom Inc., which owns MTV, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central; The Football Association Premier League Ltd., England's top soccer league; and indie music publisher Bourne Co.

YouTube didn't say exactly what it intended to gain from questioning the Comedy Central comedians. Colbert hosts The Colbert Report, a spinoff of The Daily Show, which is hosted by Stewart.

The lawsuits claim, in essence, that YouTube profits from massive copyright infringement of TV programs and feature films. The documents seeking the depositions of Stewart and Colbert pertained only to the Viacom lawsuit.

YouTube says it needs depositions from more than 30 people to fight legal challenges that "threaten to silence communications by hundreds of millions of people across the globe who exchange information, news and entertainment" through its website.

YouTube, owned by Google Inc., says it plans to show that it respects the importance of intellectual property rights by proving it goes well beyond what is required under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

That law gives service providers protection from copyright lawsuits as long as they comply with requests to remove unauthorized material something YouTube says it does.

The company says it also intends to show that the plaintiffs themselves had put their own works on YouTube or permitted others to do the same.

YouTube is also seeking to depose Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, CEO Philippe Dauman, general counsel Michael Fricklas and various executives with MTV, Comedy Central and Viacom's other networks.

Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig said the company had no comment on the court document.

Viacom sought $1 billion US in damages for what it said was unauthorized viewing of programs from its networks.

In their lawsuit, the soccer league and indie music publisher sought unspecified damages and any profits YouTube made as a result of the sharing of copyrighted videos. The lawsuits were combined into a single trial.