This may be of interest: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-651865,36-840113@51-837044,0.html

Google is apparently (I say apparently, because journalists are notoriously incompetent at law) sued for copyright violation and business parasitism, for allowing copies of some movie on its videos.google.com site.

Their defense: they're a mere hosting provider, not an editor or publisher; they do not select their contents and they are thus bound to act only when told about a violation, not preemptively. (See LCEN law.)