The billion-dollar Viacom lawsuit against YouTube/Google trudges on. After a federal judge sided completely with YouTube in summary judgment, Viacom has now filed its appeal to take the case to the next level.

Judge Louis Stanton's opinion on the case came out last month. The brief opinion agreed with YouTube that the company had a "safe harbor" against such lawsuits because the infringing video clips in question were uploaded by third parties. In the judge's view, the DMCA takedown notification system was working just fine, and Viacom had no right to go further and seek money directly from YouTube.

Viacom said at the time, "We intend to seek to have these issues before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as soon as possible." The company was not allowed to file an appeal when the opinion appeared because the judgment had not been officially entered by the court. That happened yesterday; today, Viacom appealed to the Second Circuit.

Given the issues involved and their importance for the entire Internet, the outcome of this case could prove crucial—and the lawsuit could well advance from the Second Circuit to the Supreme Court before it's settled.