Google’s video service faces copyright suit

Google Inc.’s online video service has been sued for copyright infringement, providing a possible preview of the legal trouble that may plague the Internet search leader after it takes over YouTube Inc. and its library of pirated clips, the company said Wednesday.

Google disclosed the video copyright lawsuit in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A Google spokesman didn’t have any further information about the suit late Wednesday afternoon.

After Google launched its online video service in January, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company quickly found itself trying to catch up with YouTube, which emerged as a pop culture sensation a little more than a year after its February 2005 inception in a Silicon Valley garage.

Abandoning its attempts to eclipse YouTube, Google last month negotiated a $1.65-billion deal to buy the company.

Much of YouTube’s success has been driven by the easy access to copyrighted video clips posted by the website’s millions of users. YouTube removes videos when copyright owners complain, but pirated clips continue to crop up.

The recurring problem has raised fears that some copyright owners are delaying legal claims against YouTube until Google completes the acquisition.