Google insiders say that the company is “philosophically opposed” to passing judgement on what should and should not appear on its sites.

They say that Google exists to make digital content universally available - by making it searchable on the web or by giving the public the means to post their own, home-made content on YouTube. Policing what appears is not part of its remit, they add.

The law is on Google’s side. As long as the company removes pirated material from YouTube in a timely manner when alerted by a disgruntled owner, it has done its duty.

Viacom is seeking to test that law, and is using the fact that Google has already been forced to rejig its philosophical stance as leverage.

Google is working on a filtering system that would automatically identify pirated material posted on YouTube. Such technology runs counter to Google’s policy of acting only reactively to pirated content, but the company has promised to roll-out some sort of anti-piracy measure across YouTube “soon”.

Not soon enough for Viacom, however, which alleges that YouTube has deliberately “avoided taking proactive steps” to stop piracy. Google has set aside $200 million to deal with YouTube’s piracy issues. If the courts rule that Google should play pro-active policeman - as well as reactive philosopher – the company could pay-out five-times that to Viacom alone.

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