Berlusconi media group declares £400m war on YouTube with damages claim

Mediaset, which is controlled by the billionaire media mogul and his family,  said it was seeking damages of "at least" £400 million from YouTube and its owner Google, for "illegal distribution and commercial use of  audio and video files".

A trawl through the YouTube site on 10 June revealed 4,643 clips and 325 hours  of Mediaset material, according to a statement by the company, which owns  three of Italy's six terrestrial channels.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, right, sings with showman Mariano Apicella in this picture taken from a video shown by Italian Mediaset television Canale 5's programme Striscia la notizia

"Given the information that's come to light and the quantity of illegal files on the site it's possible to say that the group's three TV channels lost  315,672 audience viewing days," it said.

In addition to the massive claim for £400 million filed with a Rome court, Mr  Berlusconi, who is already worth around £5 billion, hopes Mediaset will receive  compensation for the effect that the reduced viewing figures would have on  advertising revenues.

Given his current Midas touch --  the controversial media mogul swept back into  power in April and has already granted himself immunity from a raft of  corruption charges he faced -- observers say it would be unwise to bet against  Mediaset's chances.

The news also adds to the growing sense that lawyers are now circling video and  file-sharing sites. On Monday Italian police announced they had shut down the  country's s biggest music and film sharing network Colombo-BT.org.

YouTube, which was bought by Google in 2006, is already facing a £500 million copyright  infringement lawsuit from Viacom, which owns MTV and Paramount Pictures, as  well as legal action from other organisations, including the Premier League.

YouTube has since introduced filtering tools in an effort to prevent content  that infringes copyright from appearing on the site.

There are doubts about its effectiveness, however. This month it emerged that  the entire "Sex and the City" film had been posted on YouTube.

A YouTube spokesperson said today: "There is no need for legal action and  all the associated costs. We prohibit users from uploading infringing material,  and we co-operate with all copyright holders to identify and promptly remove infringing content as soon as we are officially notified."