Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Mark Cuban Declares War on GooTube

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the settle-this-with-jello-wrestling dept.

PreacherTom writes "Mark Cuban — the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, tech entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed 'blog maverick' — has always been outspoken in his ridicule of Google and YouTube. Now, it appears he's willing to put his money where his mouth is. Cuban is so convinced that GooTube will be a failure that he is in the process of acquiring the news agency owned by Robert Tur, currently involved in serious litigation with Google over copyright violations. With billions on both sides, this could be a real clash of the titans."

19 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. Wait... by pionzypher · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The man is so convinced that google/youtube will fail, he's actually going to jump in the ring to try to make it happen? Umm... Someone should just give this guy a hobby.

    --
    I'll believe in corporations having personhood when Texas executes one... - advocate_one
    1. Re:Wait... by Ryan+Amos · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is Mark Cuban we're talking about. He bought a basketball team just so he could hang out with pro athletes. The whole situation with him and the Mavs reminds me of a movie where the biggest fan somehow ends up becoming the owner of the team. His blog rants are the same kind of rants you'd hear from your buddies while watching the game on TV (refs are against us, conspiracy theory, blah blah blah.) What I like about the guy is that the NBA fines him $100,000+ every time he says something stupid and he keeps doing it. That's putting your money where your mouth is.

      Of course, this is actually his area of business specialty (media and the internet.) He has a ton of business reasons to ensure Google/YouTube don't succeed. He probably had the same idea 3 or 4 years ago but scrapped it over liability concerns, and he's making sure nobody else gets to make money off it either.

    2. Re:Wait... by 14CharUsername · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ah, american capitalism. Come up with an idea, find weaknesses in it, then wait until someone else uses the idea and then sue their asses off.

      This guy is pure slime.

    3. Re:Wait... by Samrobb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ??AA: "Just to play devil's advocate, why should we have to waste our time searching through all of these different computers to see if they have our content on them? Especially because even if we remove it all, it could easily be re-downloaded by someone else the next day. Our time is valuable to us, and if we have to spend some of it trying to protect our stuff, then that leaves us less time to sign new artists, or go on promotions, or count our money, or whatever."

      --
      "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgement." Job 32:9
  2. Furthering his own interests... by thebdj · · Score: 4, Insightful
    As of August 9, 2005, Cuban had begun spearheading ventures in both the social software and distributed networking industries. Cuban is an owner of IceRocket, a search engine which scours the blogosphere for content.[34] Cuban is also a partner in RedSwoosh[35] -- a company which uses peer-to-peer technology to deliver rich media, including video and software to a user's PC.
    That is taken right from the wikipedia article, here. Seriously, this would just a movie to further his own ventures. I still think this is odd since he did back Grokster during their failed legal attempts. I guess since there is no way for him to get in on the Google/YouTube money (and he feels cheated there were wrongdoings in the deal) that he will help beat them the "old fashioned" way by financing someone who is suing them. Where have I heard of this little scheme before....
    --
    "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
    1. Re:Furthering his own interests... by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 2, Insightful
      still think this is odd since he did back Grokster during their failed legal attempts.


      (Emphasis mine) Actually it makes perfect sense. To a legal simpleton anyway.

      Grokster was sued by copyright holders over illegal distribution of copyrighted material.
      Google/YouTube is being sued by copyright holders over allegedly illegal distribution of copyrighted material.

      Grokster lost, therefore Google/YouTube will lose. Cuban is backing the horse that he thinks will win, and he believes he'll cash in.

      --
      My blog
  3. Suing for profit is a moral stand? by ghostlibrary · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Okay, I'm puzzled. The EFF defending someone sued by, say, the RIAA, is to support the individual who is being overwhelmed by a large corporation due to a questionable law. And one could argue Cuban is just doing something similar-- supporting a lawsuit of an individual who feels a corporation has infringed on their rights in an area where the law is murky.

    However, supporting an individual's lawsuit, not because of the principal involved, but because you don't like them and think they're stupid, that's... well, childish. That's putting ego as more important than justice, and in theory, that's what the whole court system is supposed to prevent.

    Isn't this just a form of vigilante justice by Cuban? "I don't like 'em, so they're going down."

    --
    A.
    1. Re:Suing for profit is a moral stand? by bugnuts · · Score: 2, Insightful

      supporting an individual's lawsuit, not because of the principal involved, but because you don't like them and think they're stupid, that's... well, childish.
      This is a billionaire and his interests are not "principles", they are "principle".

      There is money involved, and like any entrepreneur, he wants what doesn't belong to him. If he can make a gamble and win, he can tap gootube for a lot of cash.

      As someone else stated, he needs a real hobby. Litigation is not a good one. He's worse than the ambulance-chaser ... instead he is an ambulance-chaser-chaser.

  4. A stupid billionaire vs 'the people' by unity100 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Who do you think will win ?

    --
    Read radical news here
    1. Re:A stupid billionaire vs 'the people' by Ant+P. · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Lawyers.

  5. Too much free time by future+assassin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Image if people put that much effort/money into helping out their communities instead of childish vendettas.

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  6. What a jerk. by Qwavel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are lots of people out there throwing the little bits of money they have at charities and other causes that they think will make the world a better place.

    Contrast with this guy.

    1. Re:What a jerk. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually Cuban donates shitloads to charities. Every fine he's endured as a NBA Team Owner he's matched by donating to Charity. So according to my calculations, he's donated well over $500,000.00 dollars to charities just from getting fined from the sidelines.

      So when was the last time you donated some money to charity? Who's the jerk now? The one who speaks without knowing a little more background info.

    2. Re:What a jerk. by centerfire · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's .038% of his net worth, which according to Forbes is 1.3BIL. I'll bet most people have given far over that percentage to charity, on an annual basis.

  7. Crazy, but right by realmolo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    YouTube and Google Video *are* full of copyrighted material. They *should* have some liability.

    Don't get me wrong. I think that the so-called "content-providers" should be HAPPY about the free advertising they get when clips of their stuff are posted on those sites. But we all know that they can't stand it, and that it is illegal. It probably shouldn't be, but it is.

    And you know what? It doesn't seem fair that in a world where the RIAA is forcing grandmothers to cough up thousands and thousands of dollars for unknowingly sharing Britney Spears tunes from their PC, that big corporations like Google get a free ride.
     

  8. Knockon effect. by malkavian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If Cuban is successful in getting a judge to rule that takedown is no longer good enough to prevent a site being sued for copyright infringement, how long do you think it'll be before no site allows anything to be uploaded, as they can no longer afford the resources to work out if it's copyright or not, and can't afford the legal fees for even a few infringements?

    This would be disastrous for the net. And for everyone in general, apart from those big media conglomerates who only transmit on their own content. This could, in one fell swoop, turn the internet from the mass of information it is now to just another broadcast mechanism for the big distribution channels (*IAA etc).

  9. Re:Liability by decipher_saint · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Google/YouTube did not upload copyrighted material to itself and it is not responsible for policing itself. If a copyright holder finds material they report it and it gets pulled.

    The counter-argument is that should there be a system of active moderation? Well, I look at this way. Should Ginsu send a man 'round to every customer's house every now and then to ensure that no one is misusing their Ginsu knife?

    --
    crazy dynamite monkey
  10. Re:Cuban seems like what most /.ers want to be by DragonWriter · · Score: 2, Insightful
    He's a libertarian and objectivist. He's not a moron...


    Wait, which is it: "He's a libertarian and objectivist" or "He's not a moron"? You can't have it both ways. Okay, I'm joking a little there, but...

    ...and certainly not a suit.


    Wait, you say he's a "salesman who got rich selling his company" and then you say he's "not a suit"? That's, um, well pretty common for a "suit". Indeed, most people would say that if your a salesman that got rich selling a company, and now own an NBA franchise, you are clearly a "suit".

    Anyway, I think you are pretty crazy if you think most slashdotters want to be salesmen, whether of software or otherwise.
  11. Re:Only a moron would buy YouTube by theNOTO · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Mark Cuban used to own broadcast.com? Who knew?