The legal dispute between Google and Viacom, which started back in 2007 because Viacom wasn’t happy about unauthorized TV clips being shown on YouTube, has finally ended and it looks like the two companies will be working close together in the future.

Viacom had initially wanted $1 billion dollars from Google over the infringement and the lawsuit over the years has seen many ups and downs, including a few dismissals and appeals, until finally they have decided that its time to resolve the issue.

“Google and Viacom today jointly announced the resolution of the Viacom vs. YouTube copyright litigation. This settlement reflects the growing collaborative dialogue between our two companies on important opportunities, and we look forward to working more closely together,” the companies have said in a joint-statement.

It isn’t known if the two companies have reached a settlement number, but according to Recode, there have been no payments (yet, at least). It will be interesting to see what happens in the future between these two companies.

[via GigaOM, Recode image via jm3’s flickr]