Universal Music Group said today it filed a lawsuit against social networking site MySpace for infringing the copyrights of its artists. At the heart of the lawsuit is the frequency with which MySpace users upload videos to their personal pages. From the Reuters article:

"The lawsuit accuses MySpace of allowing users to upload videos illegally and taking part in the infringement by re-formatting the videos to be played back or sent to others. It follows several months of talks on music rights with News Corp.'s MySpace, which broke down late on Thursday, a source familiar with the discussions said."

MySpace called the lawsuit "meritless" and claimed its procedure for removing illegal downloads
puts it in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

In recent weeks, UMG has used its muscle on a few occasions: it inked a licensing deal (plus equity) with YouTube, and worked out a deal with Microsoft that gives its a $1 fee for every Zune that is sold. Now the company has resigned the issue to litigation. Copyright owners are increasingly eager to license their content, but negotiations are bound to reach an impass on occasion. And while the company is sure to take legal shelter behind the DMCA, MySpace has put in place anti-piracy measures that are meant to filter out copyrighted material. (Read this article about a MySpace technology that allows rights holders to flag unauthorized content.) How much anti-piracy effort is enough? The courts will decide if a settlement is not reached.

[music jobs] Brand and Online Marketing Manager at The Ascot Club/Am Only; Brooklyn, NY.