YOUTUBE TO TEST VIDEO FINGERPRINTING WITH TIME WARNER, DIS (REU, WSJ, NYT)

By Nancy Vialatte

YouTube will soon begin testing a new fingerprint technology with Time Warner and Walt Disney in order to help content owners identify videos uploaded to the site without the copyright owner's permission.

The video fingerprinting tools will be available for testing in about a month, according to YouTube.

"The technology was built with Disney's and Time Warner's in mind," Chris Maxcy, YouTube partner development director, said.

These tools will be used to identify copyrighted material, after which media companies can decide if they would like to remove the material or keep it up, as part of a revenue-sharing deal with YouTube, which can sell advertising alongside it. (REU)

YouTube officials said they have already been testing their homegrown video fingerprinting technology in their labs. The test with content owners including Time Warner and Disney beginning in a month would also be in their labs, so it would not affect videos that users might see on the main YouTube site. YouTube CEO Chad Hurley has said the company intends to make the fingerprinting technology available to all content owners in the fall.(WSJ)

YouTube has been attacked by other traditional media outlets like Viacom which sued parent Google and YouTube for over $1 billion in damages in March, charging the company with "massive intentional copyright infringement" after demanding the removal of clips of its shows "Colbert Report" and "Daily Show."