Conflicting reports have emerged over whether Viacom ordered the removal from YouTube of a parody of The Colbert Report, writes CNET.
Initial reports claimed Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, issued a take-down notice targeting a parody of The Colbert Report titled "Stop the Falsiness." When those reports surfaced, the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued Viacom, saying use of content for parody is permitted under the "fair use" provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Before filing that lawsuit, the EFF says it confirmed with YouTube that the take-down notice came from Viacom. Viacom, though, claims that being served with the lawsuit is the first time it's hearing about the clip or the take-down notice. The company says it tracks all such notices this one did not originate at Viacom.

The EFF says if Viacom doesn't recognize the take-down notice it's simply because it has issued so many that keeping track of all of them is difficult. Viacom has subsequenly said it has no problem with the clip's remaining on YouTube.