The $1 billion (500 million pounds) lawsuit relates to a claim made by Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures, that Google's video-sharing website YouTube has been showing content of its shows without permission.
Eric Schmidt was addressing the 25th annual Allen & Co meeting when he made his claims about Viacom before adding that this was backed up by the appointment of former Shearman & Sterling partner Philippe Dauman as chief executive officer.
Almost 160,000 unauthorised Viacom clips are said to be currently stored on YouTube after the two firms failed to reach a distribution deal. Google purchased YouTube for a sum of $1.7 billion last year.
Google has suggested that it is exempt from copyright infringement in this case, citing the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a law which seeks to protect internet companies from actions undertaken by their web users.
Far from disputing the claims made by Mr Schmidt, Viacom's chairman and controlling shareholder, Sumner Redstone, explained to reporters that "we have engaged in a lot of litigation at Viacom, of which I have been a primary mover," before adding: "I don't enjoy a battle. I would rather be a lover than a fighter."
