When Google agreed last month to pay $1.65bn for YouTube, it was a crowning moment that made the website’s founders, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, fantastically wealthy. It also confirmed the value of video on the internet. But the deal almost did not happen.

As Google was negotiating with YouTube, lawyers at Universal Music were readying a lawsuit against the start-up company alleging massive copyright infringement. The consensus in the media industry is that if the lawsuit had been filed, then Google and other suitors would have backed away rather than exposing themselves to legal liability.