Universal Music Group continues to play hard ball in the digital realm ... With negotiations at a standstill today the Vivendi subsidiary filed suit in federal court claiming News Corp.’s MySpace is allowing—and facilitating illegal uploads that breach UMG’s copyright. UMG sued user-gen sites Grouper.com and Bolt.com last month but this is different. As the WSJ reports, the two companies were negotiating and the recently announced MySpace-Gracenote test to catch copyright infringement, was meant to be the last hurdle before reaching a licensing agreement. But UMG reportedly wanted to be paid for previous use—not just going forward—and that was a bridge too far for News Corp, which would be setting a very costly precedent. UMG then filed suit in U.S. District Court (Central District) in Cailfornia. (Update: the text of the full lawsuit is here)
In a rapidly issued statement, MySpace said the company “has been keeping UMG closely apprised of our industry-leading efforts to protect creators’ rights, and it’s unfortunate they decided to file this unnecessary and meritless litigation.” It continues: “We provide users with tools to share their own work – we do not induce, encourage, or condone copyright violation in any way. We are in full compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and have no doubt we will prevail in court.  Moreover, we proactively take steps to filter unauthorized music sound recordings and have implemented audio fingerprinting technology.  We will continue working to be the gold standard in protecting creators’ rights as well as the world’s leading lifestyle portal.”
Update: As mentioned above, Universal contends that MySpace did more than allow users to upload protected videos. Reuters has some details: Universal claims maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for each infringement—and is claiming thousands of MySpace links lead to protected music, even before some of it is released.
-- UMG contends MySpace’s reformatting of videos to be played back or shared is also an infringement.
Update 2: I’ve been making the rounds ... Turns out News Corp. was willing to take a page from Google’s book and offer Universal cash (well, a check) as a guarantee against future revenue sharing. I gather Universal was unimpressed with the amount, which didn’t hit 8 figures, and wasn’t budging from being compensated for past use. Could a higher payment have changed that? Doesn’t sound likely but it all depends. As one person pointed out, “Look what they got from YouTube.”
New MySpace takedown tool: Lost in the shuffle a bit, today’s announcement that MySpace is testing a takedown tool with Fox and MLBAM; the tool will allow registered copyright holders to digitally flag unauthorized videos that MySpace will take down. Essentially, it automates the DMCA. They’ll also use proprietary tech to block videos that have been removed from being re-posted. So far, the YouTube copyright tools have been part of licensing deals. Release.
Related:
-- Control Room, Universal Deal May Make Live Online Events Easier
-- Universal Music Sues Grouper and Bolt.com; $15K Per Infringement
-- UMG CEO: Time To Deal With Infringers Like YouTube, MySpace
-- MSFT Will Pay Universal A Royalty For Every Zune Sold; Artists To Get Half; Download Fees Due, Too
-- MySpace To Start Music Copyright Detection; Universal Cuts Music Album Download Price