[Infowarrior] - Universal Music sues MySpace over music copyrights

[Richard Forno]

AKA, "how to lose customers but gain publicity...."


Universal Music sues MySpace over music copyrights
Fri Nov 17, 2006 4:45 PM ET
http://tinyurl.com/yyf85a

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Universal Music Group, the world's largest music
company, said on Friday it filed a lawsuit against popular social networking
site MySpace for copyright infringement of thousands of its artists' works.

Universal, owned by French media giant Vivendi, filed the suit at the U.S.
District Court Central District of California, Western Division.

The suit was filed just hours after MySpace, owned by News Corp., said it
launched an enhanced copyright protection tool to make it easier for content
owners to remove unauthorized material.

In the suit, Universal claims MySpace had not only allowed users to upload
videos illegally but had also taken part in the infringement by
re-formatting the videos for users to play back and to send on to others.

The suit claims thousands of links to music from Universal's biggest
artists, including Jay-Z and Gwen Stefani, are widely available on MySpace,
even ahead of their release to music stores. It estimated maximum statutory
damages for each copyrighted work at $150,000.

Music and TV companies have been in dispute with sites like MySpace and
YouTube in the last year because of the ease with which their millions of
users can upload and share songs and videos without having to pay.

In the case of YouTube, now owned by Google Inc., Universal Music reached a
licensing agreement to give the site and its users access to thousands of
music videos.

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