said by Camelot One
:But advertisers are paying based on the number of hits, they could care less about which videos are or aren't staying up. And if YouTube had to pay legal fees for every video one of the big companies sued them over, the ad rates would have to go up, which would then drive away advertisers.
I'm not saying it is right, I'm saying it makes sense, given that the MPAA/RIAA can file a lawsuit for any reason they like, and YouTubes only option at that point is to pay them off, or pay the legal fees. Either way, they are out the $$, not the person who uploaded the, all be it, perfectly legal video.
The problem for YouTube is that if they get less hits, they lose money and advertisers can demand cheaper rates which means even less money for YouTube.