Google may have given equity stakes (now Google shares) to some content companies, but it must have left out the Japanese. Good Morning, Silicon Valley says that "an alliance of 23 Japanese TV stations, movie and music companies [asked that] 29,549 YouTube-hosted clips . . . posted in violation of copyright" be pulled.

GMSV notes "that's a pittance when one considers YouTube served up an average of 100 million video streams a day during July." Still, it quotes one analyst:

YouTube's model is based on masses of material available without regard for copyright status, just as Napster's was. So, mark my words, YouTube will get sued. And it will lose. The tools it is talking about, that identify and remove copyrighted content, will have to be rushed into practice. And when nearly every clip that has copyrighted content -- music in the background, video of Bart Simpson, photos stolen from movie posters -- is gone, YouTube's going to be a lot less interesting.

Maybe, and certainly Google cannot give equity to every content owner, but it can also be sure that no competitive video site is any better off, and many content owners, after an initial attempt to get paid off, will recognize that much of their exposure on YouTube is free advertising, and that cutting off the site would be pure spite,