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French Network Joins In On YouTube Suing

France's largest private TV network, TF1, has filed a lawsuit against YouTube to the tune of 100 million Euros -- or around $158.3 million, according to VARIETY.

The suit was received by YouTube in California a few days ago, but will be judged in Paris before the Tribunal of First Instance, according to a YouTube spokesman quoted in French business daily LES ECHOS.

TF1 did not comment.

In December 2007, TF1 sued French-based file sharing company Dailymotion for 39.7 million Euros ($63.5M) over copyright infringement and failing to prevent piracy. Dailymotion broadcasts clips from some of TF1's first run programs.

YouTube is facing an even larger legal hassle in the U.S. Media giant Viacom sued parent company Google for $1 billion in March over the use of unauthorized clips taken from Viacom's various MTV networks.

"We are disappointed that TF1 chose legal action and believe that this lawsuit misunderstands the European E-commerce Directive, which balances the rights of copyright holders against the need to protect the freedom of Internet communication," a YouTube spokesperson told VARIETY.

"Most content owners understand that we respect copyrights. We have thousands of partners globally, including hundreds of partners in Europe, many of whom take advantage of the latest technologies we have developed to help them effectively protect and manage their content on the site."

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