Google and Viacom have announced the end of a seven-year copyright violation lawsuit centered around YouTube with an agreement to settle out of court.
Viacom, which operates a variety of media properties including Comedy Central, MTV and Paramount Pictures, filed a lawsuit in March 2007 that sought $1 billion in damages from Google. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
See also: The 40 Most Viral YouTube Videos of 2013
The agreement signals the end to a long and often publicly contentious battle. Viacom had alleged that YouTube was guilty of copyright infringement for allowing users to upload clips of its content and deliberately allowing it to remain on the site.
Viacom later released conversations with Google executives that it claimed showed disregard for copyrights. Google countered that Viacom was uploading its content to YouTube.
The case dragged on for years. In 2010, Google's CFO said the company had spent $100 million on the case.
Google issued a statement on Tuesday that read: "Google and Viacom today jointly announced the resolution of the Viacom vs. YouTube copyright litigation. This settlement reflects the growing collaborative dialogue between our two companies on important opportunities, and we look forward to working more closely together."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.