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While we we have all been focused on the Microsoft-Yahoo struggle, we have been forgetting another important fight involving the future of the Internet. This is the court case between Viacom and Google over what’s shown on YouTube. Viacom claims that the showing of clips from Viacom shows is an infringement of the copyright. At Ars Technica, Jacqui Cheng notes:

It has been just over a year since Viacom launched its $1 billion lawsuit against Google for “brazen disregard of intellectual property laws” on YouTube. Although we haven’t heard much news about the case as of late, some fightin’ words have come out of both sides recently to indicate that the case is still going strong. There’s no sign of an impending settlement, either, as Viacom is still beating the piracy drum and Google continues to stand its ground. Because of this, the eventual outcome of the Viacom suit may set a legal precedent that could send ripples throughout the entire Internet.

Presently, YouTube doesn’t check to see if what is posted is copyrighted material and relies on the safe harbor provision of current law. The article concludes:

“Nearly every major Internet company depends on the very same legal foundation that YouTube is built on,” Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Fred von Lohmann told Ars last summer. He explained that a victory for Viacom could mean a fundamental change in user-generated content, forcing sites to clear every single video before putting it up. “In other words, a decisive victory for Viacom could potentially turn the Internet into TV, a place where nothing gets on the air until a cadre of lawyers signs off.”

If the DMCA’s Safe Harbor doesn’t hold up in court against Viacom, it’s clear that Google and YouTube’s suffering would just be the tip of the iceberg. The case could have widespread implications for companies like Yahoo, MySpace, Facebook, Amazon, eBay, Craigslist, Microsoft… the list goes on. Anywhere there’s a community that thrives on public participation, there’s a risk of it drastically changing (and possibly dying altogether) if Safe Harbor no longer means what it means now. Perhaps, like Viacom, Google is fighting the case until the bitter end not just to serve its own interests, but to stand up for the interests of the Internet-using public at large.