Universal Music Sues MySpace

Grooves writes "Universal Music is suing MySpace for copyright infringement. Universal threatened to sue YouTube before the Google acquisition was announced, so now it looks like they have moved on to the next target. Ars speculates that Universal is really after a piece of the action. 'On the morning of the Google-YouTube deal, Universal — along with Sony BMG and CBS — signed a licensing agreement with YouTube. If MySpace were to sign a similar agreement with the label, there is little doubt that the lawsuit would disappear.'"

obCryptonomicon quote

[ewe2]

"You should never forget what a fundamentally strong position we are in. We are like the sexiest girl in the world. And all of this bad behavior on the Dentist's part is just his way of showing that he wants to mate with us."
"And control us."

circumvention of our legal system

[benicillin]

the most interesting thing about these pre-suing agreements that have been arranged (ie. the youtube payout) is that these companies are circumventing the legal system. originally you have a legal battle that ends in a decision. then we started seeing one company sue another but settle out of court (so that no decision on the issue could be rendered by the judicial system.) now we are simply seeing arrangements made before anyone sues, the grandest way of avoiding any real legal decision on the issue. very interesting how they work things out without even deciding if they fall within the laws of the country. we'll never know if it's any kind of infringement, cause they'll never get to court in the first place.

Re:Universal Music are getting Zune Money

[lilfields]

Why would Universal go after Google? Myspace is owned by News Corp...which just so happens to own rival network and movie studio Fox. Google's Eric Schmidt sits on the board of Apple...Apple has i-tunes...Universal sells videos/music on i-tunes. This law suit has little to do with video, but to do with music that people upload for profile songs. Myspace saw this coming as they added music fingerprinting. Myspace will get a slap on the wrist, and be forced to enforce rules that should have been enforced to begin with. I know plenty of people who will go to a Myspace page just to listen to the music on it. It's like a form of radio, but Universal sees no cut, and Myspace reaps the profits from their mix of advertising. YouTube does not have this problem, at least in my eyes...too many deals have been inked for Universal to suddenly attack Google.

Re:circumvention of our legal system

[benicillin]

on the other hand, a case heard by lower courts and brought up by the supreme court is a perfect example of when the justice system wants an issue cleared up. i understand your point, but i feel that sometimes a decision by the court system is necessary; even if it's just reaching out to the legislation to clear the problem up, it helps.

Re:Now

[NineNine]

Big deal. Plumbers created and maintain basic sanitation. Give somebody a choice between having a toilet and having an Internet connection, and the toilet is going to be chosen every single time.

I wouldn't, however, expect plumbers to change our entire legal and political system any more than I would expect IT people to. Although with that being said, I've met several plumbers that are more in touch with the real world than most IT people could ever hope to be.