Viacom International, Inc. et al v. Youtube, Inc. et al
Filing
224
DECLARATION of William M. Hohengarten (Part Twelve) Ex. 329 in Support re: 176 MOTION for Partial Summary Judgment /Viacom's Notice of Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on Liability and Inapplicability of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Safe Harbor Defense.. Document filed by Country Music Television, Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Viacom International, Inc., Black Entertainment Television, LLC, Comedy Partners. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 330, # 2 Exhibit 331, # 3 Exhibit 332, # 4 Exhibit 333, # 5 Exhibit 334, # 6 Exhibit 335, # 7 Exhibit 336, # 8 Exhibit 337, # 9 Exhibit 338, # 10 Exhibit 339, # 11 Exhibit 340, # 12 Exhibit 341, # 13 Exhibit 342, # 14 Exhibit 343, # 15 Exhibit 344, # 16 Exhibit 345, # 17 Exhibit 346, # 18 Exhibit 347, # 19 Exhibit 348, # 20 Exhibit 349, # 21 Exhibit 350, # 22 Exhibit 351, # 23 Exhibit 352)(Kohlmann, Susan)
i
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
- - -- -------- - -- -- - ---- - ----- -- - - ---X
VIACOM INTERNATIONAL, INC., COMEDY PARTNERS, COUNTRY MUSIC
TELEVISION, INC., PAROUNT
PICTURES CORPORAT I ON, and BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVIS ION, LLC,
vs.
Plaintiffs,
No. 07 - CV - 2 1 0 3
YOUTUBE, INC., YOUTUBE, LLC, and GOOGLE, INC.,
Defendants.
- - -- - - -- - - ---- --- -- -- - - ---- - -- - - -- -X
HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF NICHOLAS SEET/AUDITUDE, INC. SAN FRACISCO, CALIFORNIA TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
JOB NO. 18254
12
1
Nicholas Seet San Francisco, CA November 24, 2009
2 09:24:09 to that we did broadcast-based music identification,
3 09: 24: 16 and that turned into broadcast television and radio
4 09: 24: 21 ad tracking technology.
5 09:24:25
6
7
8
And then we changed our business model in
09:24:28 2006 09:24:38
to focus on online media.
Q.
Okay.
So
--
so when
--
when was
the
09:24:41 company
09:24:43
A.
Q.
actually incorporated?
In 2006.
And how
9
10
09:24:46
09:24:49 have 09:24:51 2006? 09:24:56
09:24:57
--
how many
employees
did Audi tude
11
12 13 14 15
at the time that
MR.
it
opened for business in
PLATZER:
Obj ect
to the form.
Mr.
MR. WILLEN:
Excuse me.
So
09:24:59 09:25:01
MR.
CARDON:
this is --
Platzer is
So you can
16
17 18
just
making an obj ection for the record.
09:25:04 go ahead and answer 09:25:05
BY MR.
it.
if
you understand my
WILLEN:
19
09:25:06
Q.
If
you
question,
20
21
22
09:25:08 you can answer
it.
So
09:25:09 09:25:10 09:25:13 09:25:16
09:25:19
A.
Q.
Less than five.
Okay.
at the time that the
company was
was
23 24 25
incorporated in 2006, what would you say
the primary business model at that time?
A.
the
Tracking ads on
TV and
radio.
13
1
Nicholas Seet San Francisco, CA November 24, 2009
Q.
2 09:25:23
Can you just describe briefly how that --
3 09: 25: 26 how that business model works?
4 09:25:30
A.
We have a -- a nation-wide system of
5 09:25:36 broadcast fingerprinters that would fingerprint
6 09: 25: 44 television and radio signal, and we would be
7 09: 25: 48 provided with media from advertisers and agencies to
8 09:25:52 look for in that broadcast fingerprint.
9 09:25:56
So essentially we were tracking ads on TV
10 09:25:59 and radio, and we could tell the advertiser or the
11 09: 26: 02 agency exactly when and where their ads played,
12 09:26:06 which was previously not something that -- that
13 09: 26: 09 either they were not doing it, or they were doing it
14 09:26:13 by hand, manually going through and listening and
15
09:26:17
watching television, which was obviously not very
16
17 18
09:26:19 09:26:23
09:26:27
accurate, and
Q.
and and
quite labor-intensive.
And
that business
was
based on an
had
audio fingerprint technology developed?
A.
Q.
that Audi tude
19
09:26:31
09:26:32 09:26:32
20 21
That
is correct.
And was
it
you who
developed that
22 09:26:34 technology?
23 09:26:35
A.
I was the CEO at the time that technology
24 09: 26: 38 was developed, but I wasn i t personally the -- the
25 09:26:40 author of the technology.
14
1
Nicholas Seet San Francisco, CA November 24, 2009
Q.
2 09:26:42
3
4
Who -- who was the actual author of the
09:26:44 09:26:45 09:26:52 09:26:57 09:27:00
09:27:02
technology?
A.
We
have a chief
5 6
7
Bilobrov
who
is the -- as
scientist named Sergiy we say -- the rocket
you
scientist
Q.
who
developed the technology.
At a high
me
level of generality, can
8
describe for
A.
what the technology
actually is?
obj ect.
9
09:27:05
Certainly -MR. CARDON:
10 11
12
09:27:06
09:27:07 vague as 09:27:08
And
--
and 1'11
It's
to time.
MR. WILLEN:
Sure.
13 09:27:08 BY MR. WILLEN:
14 09:27:08
Q.
In 2006, the time that the company was
15 09:27:12 incorporated.
16 09:27:12
A.
Right. So digital fingerprinting is an
17 09: 27: 19 area of audio science or video or media science, I
18 09: 27: 22 would say, that extracts a set of key frequency
19 09: 27: 28 characteristics from the signal, and assembles
20 09: 27: 35 those -- extracts from those key frequency
21 09: 27: 39 characteristics, or compiles them into a signature,
22 09:27:42 as it were, a digital fingerprint.
23 09:27:46
This fingerprint can then be utilized to
24 09: 27: 49 find that same signature in media, even if it has
25 09: 27: 53 been highly altered, distorted, compressed.
15
1
Nicholas Seet San Francisco, CA November 24, 2009
The key to a good fingerprinting system is
2 09:28:00
3 09: 28: 05 being very accurate, very robust to noise and
4 09:28:11 distortions, and very fast.
5 09:28:16
Q.
So in -- at the time the company opened,
6 09:28:20 was the fingerprinting technology that Auditude had
7 09: 28: 23 developed being used for anything else other than
8 09:28:25 what you described as tracking advertisements on
9 09:28:29 broadcast media?
10 09:28:30 11 09:28:31
A.
Q.
At -- at what time?
Yeah, 2006, the company -- when the
12 09:28:34 company was founded.
13 09:28:36
A.
We were doing ad tracking, but we were
14 09: 28: 41 also doing music identification, based on radio air
15 09:28:47 play.
16 09:28:48
17 18
Q.
Okay. Were you -- were you also doing
09:28:51
09:28:53 09:28:56
09:28:58
Internet content monitoring at that time? A. Not at -- not at that time, no.
Q.
19
Okay.
But
-- but
I
think
you
testified
20 21
22
09:29:00 09:29:03 09:29:04 09:29:05
earlier that there -- there came a time when Auditude started getting in the business of Internet
content monitoring?
A.
Q.
23 24 25
That
is correct.
the
Now, when was
rst
time that Audi tude
09:29:08 had
the idea of shifting
its business
to focus on
16
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Nicholas Seet San Francisco, CA November 24, 2009
2 09:29:11
3 09:29:15 4 09:29:24
5 09:29:30
6 09:29:35
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09:30:05
09:30:08
09:30:10
09:30:11 09:30:14 09:30:21 09:30:25
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09:30:30
09:30:32
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Nicholas Seet San Francisco, CA November 24, 2009
2 09:30:50
3 09:30:53 4 09:30:55
5 09:30:56
6 09:30:57
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09:31:02 09:31:04 09:31:07 09:31:12 09:31:14
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09:31:16
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09:31:33 09:31:36 09:31:39
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1
Nicholas Seet
10:45:06
10:45:07
A.
Q.
San
Francisco,
CA
November 24, 2009
2 3
4
Yes.
SO
was
there
a
specific discussion that
10:45:09 you
recall about using
on YouTube?
A.
Audi tude to monetize Viacom
5
10:45:16
content
6 10:45:18
Not specifically on YouTube.
It was a
7 10:45:20 general statement that they were interested in that
8 10: 45: 23 data for moneti za tion, amongst other things.
9 10:45:26
Q.
And what were the other things, in
10 10:45:28 addition to monetization, that Viacom was
11 10: 45: 30 interested?
12 10:45:32
A.
I would be assuming that copyright
13 10:45:37 enforcement was one of them, and that may have been
14 10: 45: 40 mentioned at that meeting.
15 10:45:44 specifically.
16 10:45:46
I don't recall,
Q.
Did Viacom, in
in those meetings that
17 10:45:49 you had, ever tell Auditude that it was important to
18 10: 45: 52 Viacom that Audi tude develop a video-based
19 10: 45: 57 fingerprinting technology, in addition to its
20 10: 45: 59 audio-based fingerprinting technology?
21 10:46:03 22 10:46:05 23 10:46:09
A.
Q.
In the initial meetings, no.
In any subsequent meetings?
A.
Yes. The subsequent meetings pointed out
24 10: 46: 12 that having video fingerprinting would make the
25 10: 46: 20 manual review process of the detections much more
68
1
Nicholas Seet San Francisco, CA November 24, 2009
2 10 : 46 : 24 e f f i c i en t .
3 10:46:26
So, in other words, video fingerprinting
4 10: 46: 30 was looked at as a significant time saver for the
5 10:46:35 manual review process of the Auditude results.
6
7
10:46:38
Q.
And why was
that?
10:46:43 10:46:45 10:46:53 10:47:00 10:47:07 10:47:12 10:47:17 10:47:25 10:47:33 10:47:34 10:47:37
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10:47:40 10:47:44
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10:47:46
10:47:49
10:47:50
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10:47:56
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1
Nicholas Seet San Francisco, CA November 24, 2009
2 10:48:00
3 10:48:05 4 10:48:05
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10 10:48:24
11 10:48:26 12 10:48:31
13 10:48:38
14 10:48:39
Q.
All right. So Viacom and Audi tude
15 10:48:42 ultimately signed a contract for Viacom to use
16 10: 48: 45 Audi tude's CopyID tool?
17 10:48:48
A.
That's correct.
MR. WILLEN: Okay. Let's actually
18 10:48:53
19 10:48:55 introduce that agreement, so we can all be on the
20
21
22
10:48:59 same 10:49:03 10:49:04
10:49:04
page.
This will be Exhibit
THE REPORTER: 7.
MR. WILLEN: Exhibit 7.
23 24 25
(Deposi tion Exhibit Number 7 was marked
for identification.)
10:49:04
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