Google-owned YouTube has won a copyright case filed by Viacom regarding content available online.

Entertainment company Viacom has lost a lawsuit against Google-owned website YouTube, after accusing the internet giant of allowing copyrighted material on the site without permission.

Viacom filed the $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for a “massive intentional copyright infringement”. It claimed that YouTube and Google had done nothing to prevent Viacom’s copyrighted content from being available on the website.

However, the district judge ruled in favour of Google and YouTube saying that they could not be held liable for having a “mere knowledge of prevalence of such activity”.

Viacom plans to appeal the decision and stated: “We believe that this ruling by the lower court is fundamentally flawed and contrary to the language of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the intent of Congress, and the views of the Supreme Court as expressed in its most recent decisions.”

Google heralded the judgement as “an important victory”. On its blog, Google said: “The decision follows established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online.

“We’re excited about this decision and look forward to renewing our focus on supporting the incredible variety of ideas and expression that billions of people post and watch on YouTube every day around the world.”