Google, YouTube’s owner, said the popular video-sharing site acted within the guidelines of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The federal law was intended to protect companies like YouTube as long as they reacted properly to the content owners’ claims of infringement.

Viacom needs to take one big step into the future.

It’s understandable why Viacom wouldn’t want their programs to be posted on YouTube. It is copyrighted material and when viewers tune into YouTube instead of the TV, Viacom is losing money.

But let’s face it — the Internet is probably the smartest marketing move any company could make in this day and age.

Viacom might not like it, but people are going to find a way to view their favorite programs on the Internet. So, Viacom should either seek some sort of alternative for people to view their material or suffer losing money to Web sites like YouTube.

If anything, Viacom should see YouTube and the Internet as an economic opportunity. For example, Viacom could strike a deal with YouTube where they receive a payment every time someone views their material.

Or better yet, Viacom could take a page from the book of General Electric Co. and allow their networks’ sites to post full-length episodes of their programs.

GE owns the network NBC, which allows viewers to tune into their Web site when they’ve missed an episode of their favorite shows like “The Office”, “Heroes” and “Scrubs”. NBC, unlike YouTube, offers the full program with limited commercials. The viewing quality of the program also is better. Because of this, people might be more likely to turn to NBC’s Web site before they turn to YouTube.

It would be smart for Viacom to make the same move to the Internet with their programming because they could make money by doing so. Plus, they wouldn’t have to worry about people stealing their material.

But there are two sides to every lawsuit. Even though the material on the site is user-generated, YouTube could have been more proactive about Viacom’s copyrighted material by limiting the clips that could be shared or pulling some of the less-viewed material.

If Viacom wins this lawsuit, it could possibly open up the market for other companies to sue more Web sites for copyright infringement.

If Viacom loses, they should look at offering an outlet where viewers can watch their material legally, or continue to lose money and viewers to sites like YouTube.