Google sweating to make YouTube legit

Google is trying to persuade traditional media companies to come aboard the good ship YouTube and supply their content to the video website.

According to Google, CBS, Sony BMG, Vivendi Universal Music and Warner Music Group have all signed deals to feature their video content on YouTube in the past month.

A spokeswoman for Google said: "Google is always talking to potential partners about how to make the most of the opportunities provided by the net."

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YouTube has been taking the world by storm since it launched in late 2005 and a deal with the likes of Warner Music could ward off potentially damaging lawsuits.

YouTube has already faced a lawsuit claiming it encouraged users to violate copyright law.

The site has been singled out by analysts Forrester and IDC, who claim it could easily suffer the same fate as Napster's free service.

In a now-famous court case, Napster argued unsuccessfully that it was not responsible for people misusing its file-sharing system to steal music.

YouTube says much the same thing. Most of the material on the site is home-made, so the video's creator is the same person who posts it on the site. However, some YouTube fans violate copyright law by sharing video of copyrighted material from movies, music videos and TV shows.

Google announced plans to buy YouTube for $1.65bn last month and earlier this year the search engine denied rumours of a Napster acquisition.