Copyright law experts and leaders of media companies discussed the practical ramifications of illegal downloading and Web sites such as Youtube last night at "Legal Issues and Media Platforms," a panel at Columbia Law School.

The event, which drew about 60 people, was sponsored by the California Society of Columbia Law School and Irell & Manella LLP, and it received additional support from the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Society.

Much of the debate centered around Youtube and the $1 billion lawsuit that Viacom brought against it last month.

Mark Morril, Law '72 and Viacom's deputy general counsel, noted that The Colbert Report, which is shown on Viacom-owned Comedy Central, was the most-watched clip on Youtube, although the Comedy Central Web site allows fans to view the show for free. He claimed that Youtube is benefiting from Viacom's copyrighted material, saying that "What Youtube is really saying is either sell it at the price they dictate, or the alternative is they steal it."

Moril also noted that while Youtube filters for racism and pornography, it does not screen for copyright infringements. "If Youtube were making reasonable efforts, the suit would not exist," he said, noting that Viacom has sent the Web site more than 150,000 take-down notices for videos which it claimed as its property.

"It's just a negotiating ploy," law student D'Arcy Coolican said of Viacom's lawsuit after the event.

Beyond Youtube, Robert Klieger, a partner at Irell and Manella, held aloft a DVD of Spider-man 2 to illustrate the purpose of copyright infringement laws. He said that since the digital revolution, media piracy has increased leading to the use of Content Scrambling System to prevent consumers from duplicating comment.

Jane C. Ginsburg, Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law, said that in her advanced seminar class on copyright law, her students showed hostility to Viacom's claim.

When asked to cite a business model that would recognize copyrights on service providers, Morril said, "We have no problem negotiating with Youtube."