MySpace has dismissed the lawsuit as "meritless litigation". "We have been keeping Universal closely appraised of our industry-leading efforts to protect creators' rights," MySpace said. "We provide users with tools to share their own work - we do not induce, encourage, or condone copyright violation in any way."
Universal doesn't see it that way and in its lawsuit (lodged in a US district court), it claims MySpace "encourages, facilitates and participates in the unauthorized reproduction, adaptation, distribution and public performance".
"Our music and videos play a key role in building the communities that have created hundreds of millions of dollars of value for the owners of MySpace." A statement issued by Universal reads. "Our goal is not to inhibit the creation of these communities, but to ensure that our rights and those of our artists are recognized."
The statement sounds remarkably like claims that were made by well known record company figures about how they should have got a cut from sales of iPods because the iPod relies on music. With that thought in mind, remember that Universal just recently scored a cut from each sale of a Microsoft Zune player.
Copyright cases brought against Internet giants like MySpace and YouTube should be watched closely because now it is the rich taking on the rich; MySpace is owned by News Corp. and YouTube has Google behind it. This is not like a small start-up company being easily forced down by an entertainment giant.
Source:
BBC News
Written by: James Delahunty @ 19 Nov 2006 21:08
