Thoughts on Viacom v. Google

The Viacom v. Google litigation has many interesting legal issues, but in the end, I believe the decision should be controlled largely by policy issues. There does not really appear to be any dispute as to whether copyrighted material can be found on the You Tube website. It is also not disputable whether Viacom owns a copyright in much of this material. According to the DMCA, You Tube should be policing the site and taking down copyrighted material. Although this is a daunting task, it is possible. Google currently polices the site and takes down offensive material, this it is not inconceivable that it is logistically possible to take down all copyrighted material. This amount of work would likely put the site out of business, but is likely the correct legal result.
Even thought the correct legal result would likely end in a victory for Viacom, I do not believe it is the correct result for policy reasons. Consider the Sony case for example. It was pretty clear (at least to me) that a major use of the VCR was for copyright infringement. Despite this, the court did not rule in favor of the movie studios. The eventual result of this arguably policy driven decision, was that the movie studios ended up with more business. The decision arguably spawned more creativity from artists as they saw another media to present their work.
I believe a similar result should be obtained in the current Viacom/Google litigation. You Tube has spawned a significant amount of creativity from artists that would not have existed without the new means to present their work. Furthermore, although Viacom claims to have losses amounting to $1 billion, has likely benefited from You Tube. Many users who see clips on You Tube may be prompted to view the whole content from a Viacom provider thus increasing Viacom's revenue. In a sense, You Tube is providing free advertising for Viacom.
If the court were to rule against Google, it would be cutting off a valuable new innovation for the advancement of the arts. One of the major purposes of our copyright laws is to promote the arts. Thus, although I believe Viacom has a valid legal argument, I think that the court should consider important policy considerations and rule in favor of Google. A different result could have a detrimental effect of the advancement of the arts and go against the very policies for which the laws were created.