YouTube, the website that allows individuals to post videos, is in the process of being purchased by Google. In preparation, it has begun taking down copyrighted videos from TV shows like Comedy Central and Howard Stern (
link here). "A week earlier, nearly 30,000 clips of TV shows, movies and music videos were taken down after the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers cited copyright infringement," according to the article.
The US take-downs were reported to be at the request of a third-party, presumeably a TV advertiser which paid for the show but gets little or no credit on YouTube.
I wonder whether they would withdraw their objections if YouTube included the ads at no direct cost to the advertiser.