Two days ago Viacom dropped a $1 billion lawsuit on Google and YouTube stating that the video sharing giant had violated copyright laws by hosting videos created by some of Viacom’s programming brand.

In response, attorneys for Google feel that they have strong legal protections under current copyright law, according to Reuters. The legal team feels they have a very strong defense due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

“Here there is a law which is specifically designed to give Web hosts such as us, or… bloggers or people that provide photo-album hosting online … the ‘safe harbor’ we need in order to be able to do hosting online,” said Alexander Macgillivray, general counsel for Google. “We will never launch a product or acquire a company unless we are completely satisfied with its legal basis …

Last month Viacom had asked YouTube to remove over 100k video clips from its website that Viacom stated violated copyrights, and then later that month Viacom made a deal with Joost to provide video content for their website. Today Viacom has issues a lawsuit against YouTube and its parent company Google for copyright infringement claiming 1 billion dollars in damages.

Viacom is claiming that YouTube has over 160,000 unauthorized video clips of Viacom’s content on their website which collectively has been viewed more than 1.5 billion times. Viacom is also looking to find a way to ensure that YouTube and Google do not violate any copyright infringement again with Viacom’s content.

Some of Viacoms many programming brands include BET, Famous Music, MTV Networks – MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central, CMT: Country Music Television, Spike TV, TV Land …

Viacom will become a major content provider to the Joost global broadband television service, according to an announcement on Tuesday. This marks the first big licensing deal for Joost.

As a partner, Viacom will offer television shows and movies from its MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures divisions. Using Joost, consumers can watch Viacom content on their computers for free.

Viacom made headlines a mere two weeks ago after the media company pulled clips from Google’s YouTube online video sharing service due to copyright concerns.

Joost provides advanced television viewing features such as links to related content or websites based on the program. The interface is customizable through a variety of plug-in applications that provide social networking features such as instant messaging, message boards, and news tickers.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Joost is currently available in …