MILAN - Italian broadcaster Mediaset has sued Internet search company Google Inc. and its unit YouTube for illegal use of its materials, seeking 500 million euros ($779.3 million) in damages, Mediaset said on Wednesday.
Mediaset, controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, joins a series of leading broadcasters to have sought compensation from YouTube, a video-sharing website, for alleged copyright infringement.
Mediaset filed suit in a Rome court, the company said in a statement. A YouTube spokeswoman said it did not see the need for the legal case.
"YouTube respects copyright holders and takes copyright issues very seriously," the spokeswoman said in London. Google bought YouTube in 2006.
Mediaset said a sample analysis of YouTube at June 10 found "at least 4,643 videos and clips owned by us, equivalent to more than 325 hours of transmission without having rights".
Mediaset said this was equal to the loss of 315,672 days of broadcasting by its three TV channels.
The move by Mediaset adds to similar suits in the United States and France. YouTube is facing a $1 billion copyright infringement suit from U.S. entertainment group Viacom Inc. that accuses it of profiting from clips from Viacom shows illegally uploaded by YouTube users.
In a separate suit, France's largest commercial broadcaster TF1 asked for damages of 100 million euros for a similar reason.
Shares in Mediaset were up 2.4 percent at 4.685 euros at 1339 GMT, outperforming the DJ Stoxx media index's 1.8 percent gain.
