Google outlines plans for YouTube

Google's plans to preserve and maintain separate identities for Google Video and YouTube have been outlined in more detail.

Google bought YouTube for $1.65bn (about £880m) in stock options last year, as Web User reported.

Google yesterday announced that the two sites would continue "to play to their respective strengths", and that the brands would be kept separate.

"Google's strength - and its history - is grounded in search and in innovating technologies to make more information more available and accessible.

"YouTube, meanwhile, excels at being a leading content destination with a dynamic community of users who create, watch and share videos worldwide," said Salar Kamangar, vice president of product managament at Google.

YouTube video results now appear in the Google Video search index, and when surfers click on the thumbnails, they will be taken to YouTube's website.

YouTube has this week found itself facing the wrath of 20th Century Fox, who is unhappy about its copyrighted content appearing on YouTube's website. A lawsuit has been filed in California.

Google, whose unofficial motto is "Don't be evil", may choose to settle out of court, and it is rumoured that it has allocated money specifically for settling lawsuits that it encounters involving copyrighted material appearing on YouTube.

However, it is not yet clear how much autonomy YouTube's management team will have from its parent company, though Google is distancing itself from the issue.

"YouTube, as we've stated previously, will remain an independent subsidiary of Google, and will continue to operate separately," said Kamangar, writing on Google's blog.

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